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Benedict XVI's will: "To all whom I have wronged in any way..."

2023-01-01T11:46:06.973Z


The late Benedict XVI. asks in his 16-year-old will for forgiveness for his mistakes - and for prayers, so that despite his sins he can gain access to the "eternal dwellings".


Enlarge image

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

at a mass in 2015 in St. Peter's Basilica

Photo: Gregorio Borgia / dpa

The late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

asked for forgiveness for mistakes in his spiritual testament: "I ask forgiveness from the bottom of my heart to everyone whom I have wronged in any way", says the text that Benedict XVI wrote.

already written in 2006.

After his death, the Vatican published it on Saturday.

In the document dated August 29, 2006, Benedict XVI.

the faithful to pray for him "so that the Lord, in spite of all my sins and shortcomings, will admit me into the eternal mansions".

Born in Bavaria, Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope the year before he wrote his spiritual testament.

As Benedict XVI

he was the first pope to apologize for the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy and to meet with victims.

From the point of view of many, Benedict XVI acted

however too hesitant.

His opponents have criticized him for failing to end the church's cover-up of abuse scandals.

On February 11, 2013, Benedict XVI.

back for health reasons.

He was the first head of the Catholic Church since 1415 to take this unusual step.

Since then he has lived in seclusion in a monastery in the Vatican, where he died on Saturday at the age of 95.

In his spiritual testament, the emeritus pope thanked “the Lord for the beautiful homeland in the Bavarian foothills of the Alps”.

He went on to write: »I pray that our country remains a country of faith and I ask you, dear compatriots: do not let yourself be dissuaded from the faith.«

It often seems as if the natural sciences and historical research had "irrefutable insights that contradict the Catholic faith," he wrote in his will.

However, he "experienced the changes in natural science from afar and was able to see how apparent certainties melted away against belief".

tgk/afp/dpa

Source: spiegel

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