
VATICAN CITY — Two years to the day since Pope Benedict XVI told the world of his historic decision to step down from the papal office, those impacted by his pontificate say that his legacy is still burning bright.
“Pope Benedict’s legacy is really very massive,” said Archbishop Arthur Roche, secretary for the congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
“His teaching, his balance, his ability to get to the bottom of so many things with such clarity” are among the marks that remain from Benedict’s pontificate, the archbishop told CNA.
While Feb. 11 is normally set aside as a holiday in the Vatican for the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the day took on added significance in 2013, when Benedict used the opportunity to announce his retirement at a relatively routine consistory — most of the cardinals in the room had expected to hear little more than the dates for some upcoming canonizations.
Three weeks later, on Feb. 28, Benedict XVI would greet the crowds from the balcony of the papal palace at Castel Gandolfo for the last time as the reigning pope. Shortly thereafter, the resignation took effect, and the See of Peter was vacant until the election of Pope Francis on March 13, 2013.
Since his retirement, Benedict’s days have been filled with prayer and study, largely out of the public view. And he now goes by the simple title “Father Benedict.” However, some see the legacy of the pope emeritus as continuing to resonate in complementarity to that of his successor, Pope Francis.
Archbishop Roche reflected on what he sees as the lasting impact of the former pope.
He criticized negative portrayals of Benedict XVI as “somebody who was very severe,” saying that this media-fueled reputation was unfair and inaccurate.
Speaking from his personal experience, the archbishop said that Benedict “was the most easy person to speak to in the whole of the Curia, because he was very interested in what you had to say. And he was very interested about the problems which bishops were encountering.
“I think that his magisterium is something that will remain and will be known as very great in years to come.”
Generation Benedict
Benedict XVI’s legacy has also extended well beyond the Curia, with many young Catholics attributing their conversions to his pontificate.
Following his 2010 visit to the U.K., for instance, there has been a rise in Catholic youth-initiated movements — Youth 2000, Night Fever and Flame Congress — as well as a slow and steady increase in men and women pursuing vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
The impact of this visit on U.K. Catholics was demonstrated shortly after the papal resignation was announced through an online initiative entitled Generation Benedict, in which 40 young people were invited to share their testimonies of how the German pope had touched their lives.
The initiative came in response to “a lot of negative media surrounding his abdication,” said Collette Power, co-founder of Generation Benedict, along with Lisette Carr, both young laywomen from Britain.
“Our lives had been profoundly changed by his papacy and by the invitation he had extended to us to know the Lord and to become saints,” she said, “and we knew a lot of other young people that had the same experience. This wasn’t being told in the media.”
Power told CNA she had lapsed from her faith but experienced a conversion during Benedict’s visit to the U.K., culminating in the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Cofton Park.
Although she had gone to Mass as a child, she said “no one had ever really explained the heart of the Gospel, which Pope Benedict did when he visited England.”
“To know that God loves me and that I’m called to have a personal relationship with Jesus; and that I’m called to holiness, nothing less, not the mediocrity of the world; that the Church challenges me and the Lord challenges me to be a saint [are all things Benedict explained].”
One year later, during the 2011 World Youth Day in Madrid, Power says she experienced the sense that she was being called by the Pope to share what she had received, “to go forward and to take the Gospel to all the places in my life, all the people that I know and to the ends of the earth in my area: to really go out and spread the Good News.”
Foundation for Pope Francis
Two years after the papal resignation, Power reflected, “Pope Benedict really laid a foundation for what Pope Francis is doing now.”
“He encouraged us to know our faith, to know the culture that we live in, so that we can speak the Gospel effectively,” she said.
“Through Pope Francis, now we’re being sent, having been equipped by Pope Benedict: We’re being sent out to share the Gospel with everyone we meet and take it to the fringes of society.”
Pope Benedict was treated horribly in the press. I will say this: I actually read his books and I am amazed at this man’s intellect. He made me understand and appreciate the wonders of my Catholic faith. I am eternally grateful for Pope Benedict because his books are amazing and educated me about my Faith.
The NCRegister lives in a bubble. Just read what Catholics around the world - not just the ultra-right Catholics in Cardinal Burke’s Disloyal Opposition to Pope Francis Club - and you will quickly see the sigh of relied that Benedict is gone and silent. He, himself, knew in his heart that he was not effective in dealing with the immense Vatican financial management crisis, universal pedophilia crisis with priests/bishops, and his role as a pastor who needed to communicate with the Church with his heart rather than his head. He left early, not because of his health, but because of the crisis he could not manage in spite of his very autocratic style. He made the right decision but we just don’t know if he made it on his own or was forced by Cardinals to leave.
All of the shocking, uncharitable vitriol regarding Pope Benedict has, in my experience, come from those whose lives witness a disposition of heart is clearly set in a stubborn persistence in the pursuit of a selfish, self-indulgent lifestyle. Contrasting the doctrinal teachings of Benedict with Francis is contrived because there is little, if any, doctrinal differences between them. Benedict is far more articulate; that is one of his many gifts. He will undoubtedly be recognized as history progresses as one of the greatest Theologians of all time. His writings are warm, thoughtful, intelligent, pastoral—and accessible to all—unlike the writings of many other brilliant scholars. That is a gift to him from God, and to all of us from God, through him! Francis speaks candidly from the heart, colloquially; and he has touched some that no other Pontiff has been able to reach. Let us rejoice in that! In Francis’ famous “Who am I to judge,” interview, everyone began waving the anything-goes-banner, saying, “Francis believes we shouldn’t judge homosexuality— the act itself—as being sinful!” But, is that what he was saying? Clearly, it was not because a sentence later, in the same interview, he affirms Church teaching; he affirms Benedict’s teaching by stressing his clear alignment with both, in adding, “The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says they should not be marginalized because of this [orientation] but that they must be integrated into society. The problem is not having this orientation. We must be brothers. The problem is lobbying by this orientation, or lobbies of greedy people, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the worse problem.” This idea that Francis is some kind of “you- all-can-do-anything-you-want-and-I-don’t-know-if-it’s-right-or-wrong” pope is a fantasy created by those who simply want to do anything they want—with no repercussions, with no consequences; this kind of spiritual “head in the sand” mentality, this childish, “Pope Francis said we could!” mentality, is a doomed attempt to salve a conscience that, in God’s grace, is speaking to them. Those attacking Pope Benedict as some evil ogre need to take an honest look at their own interior motives and seek help from the Holy Spirit to repent of their vicious attacks on those whose lives bear clear witness to lifelong faithfulness, holiness and devotion to God.
Was there ever an article about what Pope Benedict really meant to say? Every time Pope Francis has an interview there is yet another “what Pope Francis really meant to say” article here. Rabbits ! Rosary Counters ! Proselytism is solemn nonsense ! Who am I to judge? Diego Neria Lejarraga
@JeanLeroux2: Archbishop Georg Ganswein serves Pope Francis as well, so take your judgements, homosexual suggestions, and Pope Francis worship somewhere else sir.
to JeanLeroux2:
You are nothing but someone who likes to throw vitriol on the holy people in the Church. You are probably not even a Catholic but a snake sent from Satan’s minions. We hear you hisses every time you write anything. We see right through you rage and grinding of teeth… Well, keep practicing your rage and grinding of teeth because you will continue doing this in eternity with under your master’s lashes.
Jean,
You are probably one of the most spiteful, hatefilled people to ever post on this site. Take a step back and ask, who is the Condemner, it’s you.
JL2, Father Benedict told us why he abdicated. Looks like you get your information from the NCReporter?
Pope Benedict was intelligent, humble, kind, and God-loving. I’m still reading his writings. Is there one book that would happen to contain many, if not all, of his writings?
Thanks be to God and Father Benedict.
A truly great Pope, Benedict XVI, about whom in these days we will never appreciate, but as with his many predecessors, it takes generations to fully appreciate all that any one of them accomplished. In so far as Pope Benedict XVI is concerned, there are few who would ever surpass his intellect and clarity of thought on faith and moral issues. And there would be few who might have or would have inherited so much from a prior papacy, by now Saint John Paul II. When one speaks of humility, one cannot but note such about Benedict, for he was in the shadow of his predecessor for more than a generation. May he live long and may those who continue with their constant and ongoing attacks or dislike for him, may they think of their own shortcomings.
I love our kindly ‘German shepherd.’ JeanLeroux2, your comment is vile. Your heart must be cold to utter such slander about Pope Emeritus Benedict. St. Michael the archangel, come to our aid!
I agree wholeheartedly, Mark. He has made a large impact on many including myself.
I really don’t think that Pope Benedict laid the foundation for sloppy, imprudent speech. Just sayin’. :-)
@JeanLeroux2: Although I do not know all the rights and wrongs of the negative issues that you raise, it is difficult to understand such a glowing review in the Register when one considers what happened to the Church in the west while Pope Benedict was in his two high positions at the Vatican. Something must have been wrong!
Having strayed for a number of years from the Faith in which I too was raised, Benedict XVI’s papacy played a major part in bringing me back home to Holy Mother Church. God bless this beautiful and holy shepherd!
Only the NCRegister would publish such a glorious review of former Cardinal Ratzinger’s career in the Vatican. Ratzinger was the Condemner-in-Chief and has made so many pastoral errors in his long career at the Vatican (yes, he was a funeral-face careerist, like Pope Francis calls them!!!). And, we will never know the “real” reasons why Benedict resigned but let me guess that it may have to do with 1) Vatican financial mismanagement; 2) priests and bishops (cardinals?) pedophilia and 3) the “very special” friendship between Ratzinger and his “personal” secretary who, by the way, lives with Benedict in the little house in the backyard of the Vatican!!!
A true giant in the history of the Catholic Church. One of its greatest popes. A great man and great man of God. His scholarship is unmatched, yet he explains our Faith in a very clear and understandable way. He is also a very humble man, yet he has put forth Catholic Truth with such fortitude. He appointed so many great bishops and Cardinals. And he handled the sex scandal in a strong fashion as Pope Benedict and Cardinal Ratzinger. He made so many powerful talks and statements on situations in the world, including of course his historically great Regensburg speech.
He didn’t hold back in pointing out wrongs in society and in some corners of the Catholic Church. He was so adept at understanding the liturgy, and his edict on the Latin Mass was so right. It’s difficult to say enough great things about this great and holy man. May God Bless him.
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