By Chris Sparks
I was a senior in high school when St. John Paul II died, and Pope Benedict XVI was elected pope, and I didn’t know what to think. I’d seen his name on some shortlists of possible popes; he was such an important (and often controversial) figure in the Church, it made sense that he would be a contender. But to have been elected – well, I didn’t know enough about him to have an opinion. So I went out and bought Salt of the Earth, his interview with the German journalist Peter Seewald.
When I finished it, I told my mom, “We’re lucky this man was elected pope.”
Paths to God
That interview was the start of Peter Seewald’s return to the Catholic faith of his childhood. When he interviewed then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he encountered living Catholic faith. He met a man who truly, sincerely believed in Jesus, and loved Him. A key turning point for Seewald was when he asked Cardinal Ratzinger how many paths there were to God. The cardinal answered, “As many as there are people,” meaning that though Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, that way is big enough that everyone can find room for themselves on the road home to God.
I’ve told people repeatedly over the years that you can’t understand Pope Benedict from what other people say about him, either the media, his adversaries, or even his friends. You have to read and listen to Pope Benedict himself. I encourage you to do so.
Divine Mercy
Having said that, let me also share with a collection of the crucial ways Pope Benedict was a blessing and a guide to the work of the Marian Family, especially when it came to spreading the Divine Mercy message and devotion. Keep in mind, this barely scratches the surface of his rich life’s work.
• As Cardinal Ratzinger, he was an indispensable assistant to St. John Paul II, the Great Mercy Pope. Contrary to ill-informed media depictions of Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI like Netflix’s The Two Popes, Cardinal Ratzinger was not someone seeking high ecclesiastical office; rather, high ecclesiastical office kept finding him. His intellectual brilliance, humility, and unimpeachable orthodoxy meant that his academic career was interrupted by his service to the universal Church — as a peritus (theological expert) at the Second Vatican Council, then his elevation to bishop, then cardinal. Saint John Paul II summoned him to Rome a few years into the Polish Pope’s pontificate to serve as head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the body charged with safeguarding the truths of the Church’s teaching. Over the decades of Cardinal Ratzinger’s faithful and influential service in that role, he offered his resignation to St. John Paul II several times, but St. John Paul II kept him in Rome. There, Cardinal Ratzinger did vital work for the Church, including serving as general editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
• As Pope Benedict XVI, he opened his pontificate in the context of Divine Mercy. In his first message as pope, April 20, 2005, he said:
At this time, side by side in my heart, I feel two contrasting emotions. On the one hand, a sense of inadequacy and human apprehension as I face the responsibility for the universal Church, entrusted to me yesterday as Successor of the Apostle Peter in this See of Rome. On the other, I have a lively feeling of profound gratitude to God who, as the liturgy makes us sing, never leaves his flock untended but leads it down the ages under the guidance of those whom he himself has chosen as the Vicars of his Son and has made shepherds of the flock (cf. Preface of Apostles I). Dear friends, this deep gratitude for a gift of Divine Mercy is uppermost in my heart in spite of all. And I consider it a special grace which my Venerable Predecessor, John Paul II, has obtained for me. I seem to feel his strong hand clasping mine; I seem to see his smiling eyes and hear his words, at this moment addressed specifically to me, "Do not be afraid!"
• Pope Benedict XVI established the World Apostolic Congress on Mercy (WACOM). “Go to the world and be witnesses of Divine Mercy,” Pope Benedict XVI urged participants in the historic first World Mercy Congress held in Rome (April 2-6, 2008). Since that first Congress was held in Rome, there have been international Congresses held in Krakow (2011), Bogota, Colombia (2014), Manila, the Philippines (2017), and an upcoming Congress this year in Samoa (May 2023). Continental, national, and regional congresses have also been held since 2008, contributing to the rich treasury of witness, teaching, and practice in the service of Divine Mercy. Visit MercyCongress.org to learn more about the work of the Congress.
• Pope Benedict XVI waived the waiting period for the cause for canonization of John Paul II; oversaw the cause as bishop of Rome, where John Paul had died; declared him a Venerable Servant of God and published the decree establishing John Paul’s heroic virtue; and beatified the Great Mercy Pope on Divine Mercy Sunday in 2011. With this, Benedict helped cement his predecessor’s crucial contributions to bringing Divine Mercy to the forefront in the life and Gospel proclamation of the Church, where it belongs. He ensured that John Paul’s teaching and witness would continue to shape the Church in the new millennium, and took the necessary steps to set the stage for his successor, Pope Francis, to then canonize St. John Paul II on Divine Mercy Sunday in 2014 and open the extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, which ran from 2015-16.
• Throughout his life and ministry, he was a model of Christian humility, forgiveness, and charity — of living Divine Mercy. He showed us what it means to live as a faithful witness to the truth in charity, surrendering neither the truth nor love for those to whom one was speaking. For all the controversy and terrible attacks against him in the media, I am not aware of him having made any public statements of bitterness or anger against those who assailed him across the decades. Those who met him personally spoke of his unfailing patience, gentleness, and charity. This is what we all should aspire to as Christians in the modern world: loving and praying for all, proceeding to remain steadfast with Christ and His Church, and abiding in the fruits of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (see Gal 5:22-23).
A Pope to be read
Again I urge you to read Pope Benedict XVI’s own words. Start with his interview books, The Ratzinger Report with Vittorio Messori and his collection of interviews with Peter Seewald. Then read the height of Pope Benedict’s life work, his Jesus of Nazareth trilogy, written while he was pope, but not acts of the papal magisterium. Also, Dr. Scott Hahn’s summary and overview of Benedict’s theology, Covenant and Communion, is a beautiful book.
Pray for the repose of the soul of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Ask the Lord whom he loved and served for so long on this earth to welcome him swiftly into Heaven, knowing that anyone who has received the last Sacraments and dies with the words “Lord, I love you” on their lips has a very good chance of heading straight to Heaven at the end of their life.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.
May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
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