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Benedict XVI died quietly in the Vatican

2022-12-31T09:51:47.350Z


DISAPPEARANCE – He retired on May 13, 2013 to end his days in prayer, in the shadow of Saint Peter's Basilica. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died on Friday at the age of 95. Exceptionally, this papal burial will not be followed by a conclave.


Like an Easter candle, Benedict XVI has gone out.

He was 95 years old.

The Paschal candle is the one that the priest lights on Easter night as a sign of Christ's resurrection from a large fire lit for the occasion in the courtyard of the church.

It is then re-lit every Sunday until the wax runs out.

Benedict XVI, in the white cassock of pope emeritus since February 11, 2013, the date of his renunciation of the papacy, was thus consumed in prayer.

Slowly and above all discreetly, according to his dearest wish, even if the news of the Church was able to catch up with him sometimes.

He lived out of sight, like a wise old man or rather like the old monk he had always dreamed of being, only going out in the afternoon to say his rosary.

Had he not insisted on ending his days in silence, study and prayer, and submission to the reigning pope, retired to a small house in the shade of the dome of Saint-Pierre, in the gardens of the Vatican?

He lived a very regulated life there, but could not move for some time, nor speak distinctly.

Those who knew him were struck by his attentiveness and his intellectual lucidity, which he kept intact for a very long time, according to these testimonies.

As for his fragile health, it was not so bad, as his longevity and resistance since his resignation will have demonstrated, no doubt a family trait, since his eldest brother, Georg, also a priest, died at 96. year.

In April 2022, just before Joseph Ratzinger's 95th birthday, his private secretary, Georg Gänswein, explained for example that he was

"physically weak"

and that

"his mind still works perfectly well"

.

He added that Benedict XVI continued his life at a

"methodical"

pace , even if

"his movements (were) slow"

and that he had to

"rest more"

.

Apart from shingles which affected him in the summer of 2020, Benedict XVI was actually consumed by old age, and not by a strong pathology which would have worn him out, then taken him away.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in 2014. Stefano Rellandini / REUTERS

Subject to the authority of Francis, this retired pope-monk never took a vow of silence, however, as some have asserted.

He only made a vow of obedience and exceptionally came out of his reserve four times.

In May 2017, to support Cardinal Sarah on the issue of the liturgy which was particularly close to his heart.

In April 2019, to analyze the causes of the pedophile crisis.

And, more spectacularly, in January 2020, to defend priestly celibacy, again with Cardinal Sarah, in an advocacy book with worldwide repercussions, From the depths of our hearts (Fayard).

Finally, in March 2018, an episode that was not very edifying for the Vatican but demonstrated the lucidity of mind that Benedict XVI kept for a very long time: the Vatican's Minister of Communication, Msgr. that he supported the publication of a series of theology books to the glory of Pope Francis, published by the Vatican on the occasion of the 5 years of his pontificate.

Among the signatories of these books: the German theologian Hünermann - disciple of Hans Küng -, vehement opponent of the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

It was too much for the pope emeritus, very shocked by the process.

The deception had consisted in publishing an official photo of the collection of books, with the letter of Benedict XVI,

but by blurring the paragraph where the latter specifically refused to support this initiative!

He, a frail old man, had to personally intervene on March 16 to get the Vatican to publish his entire statement, threatening to do so himself.

Bishop Dario Vigano immediately lost his post as Minister of Communication to Francis…

Finally, his impeachment in January 2022 - where he was accused, when he was Archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982, of having mishandled four cases of pedophile priests - forced him to produce a public defense and to challenge any responsibility on these files, but to recognize

"the great fault"

of the Church on sexual abuse, imploring its

"sincere request for forgiveness"

to the victims, many of whom, however, continued to accuse it.

Read also“God only knows” N°37: the slow fragmentation of the Catholic Church

Beyond the photos taken by visitors he gladly received in his house, even if the pace had slowed down lately, his last public appearance was a personal surprise trip of a few days to Germany, on June 18, 2020, to go to the bedside of his older brother, Georg, who is dying, and to the graves of his parents and his sister.

Another custom from which he never departed, he always received new cardinals on the day of their “creation”, according to the usual term.

Thus, on August 27, 2022, accompanied by Pope Francis, the twenty new cardinals of the Catholic Church, including Mgr Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille, "mounted" to the pope emeritus, as we said in Rome because of the location of his house, on the hillside, in the Vatican gardens.

A brief but essential visit for their host, who always wanted to mark the unity of the Church whenever he could.

Benedict XVI, welcomed by the cardinals at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, in 2014. Max Rossi / REUTERS

Unless there are provisions to the contrary which he would have laid down in a will and which could be known in the coming hours, Benedict XVI, as pope emeritus, should be buried in one of the crypts of Saint Peter's basilica with all due liturgical respect. to a pope.

And why not where the body of John Paul II was initially laid before being reassembled under one of the altars of the basilica, where he is honored as a saint of the Church.

Unheard of specificity of this funeral ceremony, the date of which we will know very quickly, it will be presided over by his elected successor, Pope Francis.

Another originality, a conclave will not follow this papal burial.

The homage that will be paid to him could compensate for a certain injustice suffered by this pope, a great theologian, an upright man, of exemplary humility, far removed from political calculations...

The climate will therefore be particular.

It will perhaps allow us to meditate on who Benedict XVI really was.

And the homage that will be paid to him could compensate for a certain injustice suffered by this pope, a great theologian, an upright man, of exemplary humility, far from political calculations... A last opportunity to grasp the scope of one of the most misunderstood in modern times.

A pope's funeral can thus reflect his impact and influence on the minds and hearts of an era.

It was spectacular for John Paul II, in April 2005. The popular mobilization and presidential and crowned heads from all over the planet, who came personally to pay homage to him, highlighted the abasement and humiliation of the bedridden pope of recent years.

The world was then massed, that day, around a coffin box placed on the floor.

The spiritual fruitfulness and planetary influence of John Paul II, canonized in 2014, suddenly appeared in full light in all their historical and geopolitical scope.

Will it be like this for Benedict XVI?

The injustices against him are not small.

The first of these is the misunderstanding of his renunciation.

Those who did not share his decision to leave before the final hour may be able to show that they did not stop there, even if they have not stopped attributing to Benedict XVI a share of the responsibility in the current evolution of the Church led by Francis, often contrary to the mark imprinted by the theologian pope.

The election of the Argentine pope was, however, a complete surprise for the German pope.

The latter had refused to make any calculation in his decision to give up.

And even less for his succession.

It is certain, in this respect, that Benedict XVI will remain in the

history like the pope of the 21st century who will have dared to give up his office because he no longer felt the strength to carry it out.

This act hailed worldwide, a historic gesture, will however have been only moderately appreciated by the majority of its most faithful supporters and admirers.

The resentment will have been fueled by two indisputable facts: the election of a successor, Francis, very much at odds on the crucial question of the vision of the Second Vatican Council, more "open" in the Argentine pope, while it was " tradition" with the German pope.

A strategic file for the future of the Church.

This generated an implicit reproach addressed to this conservative pope: not having sufficiently ensured the transmission of his ecclesial heritage, however very rich

.

Impression reinforced, second fact, by the longevity of Benedict XVI… It showed in the eyes of the nostalgics that he could still have reigned, even weakened.

Timid Pastor, Decisive Pope

Another major injustice, this timid pastor was a decisive pope.

Especially on theological issues, many of his texts will remain as classics of the Church.

But also for the fight against pedophilia, where he was the pope who dared to say stop, as soon as he was elected, to a culture of silence and compromise that poisoned the Church at all levels.

However, everyone will salute the resigning curator, the one who had the lucidity to think the unthinkable and who had the courage to break this screed of tradition.

Since Gregory XII, in 1415, all the popes have died in service… Benedict XVI thus succeeds in erasing a rule that has not been written for six centuries!

The easiest way would be to remember only February 11, 2013, the last day or so of a pontificate which nevertheless lasted nearly three thousand days and which was very rich on the ecclesial and theological level, even if it was often a media agony.

With the notable exception of the televisual apotheosis of his departure from the Vatican, by helicopter and at sunset…

The teaching of Benedict XVI was however of a different scope than the cinematography of the last pontifical week.

After the proliferation of John Paul II, he accomplished substantive work in the Catholic enclosure.

He was certainly not inclined towards

peripheries

like his Jesuit successor, but he will have been a spiritual founder for several generations.

Thus the fruits borne by his prestigious theological career as a professor.

Then of the eminent service of Joseph Ratzinger, cardinal, rendered to John Paul II, of whom he was the real number two.

Finally of the ecclesial density of his pontificate. These plowings and their harvests will never be reducible to a specific act of renunciation, however historic it may be.

Benedict XVI on a trip to Cuba, in 2012. ALBERTO PIZZOLI / AFP

This

"humble servant in the vineyard of the Lord",

as he described himself before donning the white cassock given to him by his cardinal peers, was not the ermine pope either, untouchable, sanitized and under armored glass, where his entourage locked him up without his having the guts to resist.

This man, classical, Bavarian and Mozartian, accepted without flinching the decorum imposed on him.

Which was not in his simple personal habits when he was the most important cardinal of the Church.

It is enough to have seen him live at that time.

Once elected pope, many ended up confusing him with the gilded mitres and starched lace that were attributed to him.

But it wasn't him.

So who was he?

Here are at least two keys to deciphering this upset monk: he would have preferred the darkness of the enclosure if the light of his extraordinary intelligence and recognized by all, including his opponents, had not propelled him into the spotlight to be a theologian there. .

And he always considered himself “at the service” of the Church, without expecting personal compensation.

No posture at home.

It was therefore the servant, and not the ambitious, who agreed to succeed John Paul II.

Benedict XVI was very aware of his limits as a ruler.

He had never been a boss.

He had known it since his time at the Archdiocese of Munich.

Paradoxically, it was by virtue of this ethic of service, and not for the sake of preserving himself, that he decided to hand over his charge, the day he realized that he no longer had the physical and psychological means to assume it.

It is therefore, also, a servant who resigned, and not a coward, who would have left under the pressure of the Vatileaks business and other scandals that he had known for a long time.

But this story, authentic, that of humility made pope, who will grasp it, in a world - including ecclesial - often dominated by the proud?

Such is the real Benedict XVI.

A man of God, ultra-lucid about his own limits.

Who accepted until the end the incomprehension, including that of having given up.

But a man of conscience, of duty too, who did not honestly recognize the right to govern the Church when he no longer felt, before God, that he had the means to do so.

It is true that he had accepted this charge with lip service, in a spirit of service.

He had handed it over on May 13, 2013, in the same spirit, because he thought it did not belong to him.

As demonstrated by his pontificate, both grand and discreet, where the man Joseph Ratzinger had - perhaps too much - disappeared behind his function as pope, which he refused to personalize.

"Mystical"

Benedict XVI was also what we would call a “mystic”, a man at deep peace who loved conversation and interior life with God, of whom he was visibly animated and to whom he prayed unceasingly.

Thus, the text he had written for January 8, 2022 and which was the conclusion of a moving letter in particular addressed to the victims of pedophile priests.

It could be his spiritual testament, because the pope emeritus delivers there his vision of death, of "judgment", whose anguish he does not avoid but where he expresses with force the power of Christian hope, the fruit of a life of faith that never experienced a break in him.

This text is rare, because this pope was not the man to talk about himself:

Soon, I will face the ultimate judge of my life.

Although, looking back on my long life, I may have many reasons for dread and fear, my heart remains joyful because I firmly believe that the Lord is not only the just judge but, at the same time, the friend and brother who has already suffered my shortcomings himself and who, as a judge, is at the same time my lawyer (Paraclete)

(the Holy Spirit in the Catholic tradition, editor's note)

.

As the hour of judgment approaches, the grace of being a Christian becomes ever clearer to me.

Being a Christian gives me the knowledge, even more, the friendship with the judge of my life and allows me to cross with confidence the dark door of death.

In this regard, what John recounts at the beginning of the Apocalypse constantly comes to mind: he sees the Son of Man in all his greatness and falls at his feet as though dead.

But he, placing his right hand on him, said to him: “Do not be afraid!

It's me…

Source: lefigaro

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