In Romania, the figure of Pope Benedict – The one who left – rather, it meant something that managed to catch the rather indifferent eye of the majority: another Sovereign Pontiff (an outdated title that no one uses in the Catholic world anymore!), a conservative pope, a clumsy and sober politician, a distant figure of worlds difficult to reach and therefore necessarily unpopular .

However, little has been said about the respect and love of our compatriots, who felt the fire of nobility of this Pope, who diligently read his texts and recognized him as the bearer of a mission of a special scale, received, one might say, directly from the exhausted shoulders of Ivan Paul II in the spring of 2005.

Ten years ago, on the occasion of his recall from the mission, many people were frightened by his almost unprecedented gesture (the last papal recall was in 1294 with Celestine V). I remember how surprised and hurt I was then. But over time, I also penetrated the inner richness of such a gesture, which inevitably rewrote the aura of the Pope’s character and strengthened my conviction that a sincere act of Christian humility on the world stage matters even in the pews of the free. thinkers

With his gesture, Benedict emphasized not only the legacy of the truth of common sense, for which no one is indispensable, but also the fact that true humility means trusting God. Only a person is capable of such a position when the weakness of the age has its say the retreating prayer: “Remove, Lord, my pride for the experience I have gained and for my indispensable presence! Help, O Lord, that I may be of service to the world, promoting with peace and prayer the joy and courage of those who now bear responsibility. Grant, Lord, that I may live in humble and calm connection with a changing world, without regrets for the past, offering my suffering as a gift of compensation and atonement. Make my retirement simple and natural, a happy sunset!”

“There are no revolutionary acts in the Church, but there are acts of conscience, of Christian responsibility,” said Pope Benedict. He knew best that the vitality of the Universal Church exists through the inner struggle of faith and loyalty to Christ in the spirit of the Kingdom of the Hereafter. That is why he testified to the value of faith – the energy through which the Church calmly and joyfully runs in the footsteps of Jesus – and the strength not to deny the connection with Him, regardless of the circumstances. His dialogues with the journalist Peter Seewald, providentially also translated into Romanian, are a wonderful example of mental balance and righteous judgment of the soul.

He was a theologian of living liturgical worship, the importance of contemplation that precedes any action in the Church’s mission, a diligent preacher of the word that the Holy Scriptures offer to all people of good will from the living God. And last but not least, he was the inspired soul to recognize, together with John Paul II, the fact that ostpolitik – The church’s attempt to cope with communism, which began in the 60s, was a disastrous prospect. To run after a carriage that is not waiting for you meant for the intellectual Ratzinger not so much a blatant waste of time as distrust of the crucified silence of Providence. Allowing its seed to fall into the ground to die – if it remains faithful in the hope of the complete truth that Jesus revealed – the Church does not forget that it must be reborn in the season of the next generation.

A pilgrim of faith in a world that seems to forget more and more about its Christian roots and cease to find itself, Joseph Ratzinger, however, lived a discreet life. A theologian of friendship with Jesus, he imagined the state of the spirit of Heaven, proceeding from the pleasant and calm atmosphere of his family. Together with his brother and sister, he lived with his parents that the Christian spirit should not reflect a baseless ethical ideal, that the joy of communion with Jesus is a tangible reality, and that steadfast goodness always has a privileged chance in faith. stories of a truly kind person at heart. Read the whole article and comment on Contributors.ro