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Great Teacher of our time – Pope Benedict XVI
On 31 December 2022, at 09:34 am Central European Time, Pope Benedict XVI died at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City at the age of 95. He was buried at the Vatican on Thursday January 05, bringing an end to an unprecedented decade in which a reigning pope lived side by side with his predecessor. Pope Francis spoke at the funeral in these words, “ We have come with the fragrance of gratitude and the balm of hope in order to show him once more the love that is undying. We want to do this with the same wisdom, tenderness, and devotion that he bestowed upon us over the years.”Pope Benedict would have been long remembered even if he had not become pope. He was one of the world’s leading theologians and was a pivotal and long-serving Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during a crucial time in modern Church history. Pope Benedict was a great teacher of the faith and was a true father for the Church in our times. He was also the first pope to resign in over 700 years, an act which Pope Francis has extolled as one of exemplary humility.
Pope Benedict was certainly a ‘teaching pope,’ standing up for truth against what he called the ‘dictatorship of relativism.’ In Regensburg, where he had once served as a professor, he presented an important lecture as pope in 2006 on a central theme of his pontificate – the unity of faith and reason.
Pope Benedict wrote three encyclicals and drafted a fourth, Lumen Fidei, which would be expanded upon and promulgated by his successor Pope Francis in 2013. Pope Benedict’s encyclicals were clear and deep, but also intended to be simple, serving as simple lessons on the theological virtues so basic to the Christian life – faith (Lumen Fidei under Pope Francis, 2013), hope (Spe Salvi, 2007),and charity (Deus Caritas Est, 2005). Pope Benedict promulgated a social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (2010), which in many ways anticipated the future teachings of Pope Francis on social justice and stewardship for the environment.
During his papacy, Pope Benedict also published a three-volume series Jesus of Nazareth, exemplifying biblical theology grounded in faith, providing thoughtful reflection for readers around the world, and emphasizing the centrality of Christ in our faith. I would encourage you to read this book to understand better the person of Jesus who took on our flesh to be one of us.
Pope Benedict XVI was a great and holy man and a towering theologian. He served the Church faithfully and prudently and weathered storms courageously. Pope Francis said of him, “every time I have read the works of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, it becomes increasingly clear that he has done… ‘theology on his knees.’ On his knees because, even before being a great theologian and teacher of the faith, we see a man who truly believes, who truly prays, you see he is a man who embodies holiness, a man of peace, a man of God”.
Fr Tom Kunnel, C.O.