“LORD, I LOVE YOU!” BENEDICT XVI’S LAST WORDS

Following is my translation of an article in Italian in Vatican News, written by Andrea Tornielli. I used the official English translation for Pope Francis’ words to Benedict on June 28, 2016 (65th Anniversary of the Priestly Ordination of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (28 June 2016) | Francis (vatican.va)

“LORD, I LOVE YOU!” BENEDICT XVI’S LAST WORDS 

The last words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI were heard in the middle of the night by a nurse. It was around 3 in the morning on December 31st, a few hours before his death. Ratzinger had not yet entered his agony, and at that moment his collaborators and assistants had taken turns. With him, at that precise moment, there was only a nurse who did not speak German.

“Benedict XVI,” his secretary, Bishop Georg Gänswein recounts with emotion, “in a whisper, but in an easily distinguishable way, said in Italian: ‘Lord, I love you!’ I was not there at that moment, but the nurse told me shortly after. Those were his last undertandable words because after that he was no longer able to express himself.”

Joseph Ratzinger and his brother George were both ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 1951:

“Lord, I love you!” is almost a synthesis of the life of Joseph Ratzinger who, for years, had been preparing for the definitive encounter, face to face, with the Creator. On 28 June 2016, on the 65th anniversary of the pope emeritus’ priestly ordination, Pope Francis (in an address to his predecessor) wanted to underline a ‘characteristic’ of the long history of Ratzinger’s priesthood.

He said: In one of the many beautiful passages you have written on the priesthood, you emphasize that, at the hour of Simon’s definitive call, Jesus, fixing his gaze on him, essentially asks only one thing: “Do you love me?” How beautiful and true this is! Because it is here, as you go on to tell us, in that “Do you love me?” that the Lord establishes the true meaning of shepherding, because only through love for the Lord will the Lord be able to shepherd through us: “Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you”

This is the characteristic,” continued Francis, “that has predominated your entire life spent in priestly service and in the service of theology, which you defined, not by happenstance, as the search for the beloved; and this is indeed what you have always given witness to and continue to witness to today: that the decisive thing that frames each of our days — come rain or come shine — that which gives rise to everything else, is that the Lord is truly present, that we desire him, that we are close to him interiorly, that we love him, that we really believe in him and, believing in him, truly love him. It is this loving that truly fills our hearts, this believing that allows us to walk confidently and peacefully upon the waters, even in the midst of a storm, as Peter did. This loving and this believing allow us to look to the future not with fear or nostalgia, but with joy, even in the twilight of our lives.”

VATICAN INSIDER: A NEW PRIEST AND HIS CALL TO THE PRIESTHOOD

VATICAN INSIDER: A NEW PRIEST AND HIS CALL TO THE PRIESTHOOD

My guest this week is Fr. Ryan Brady, a good friend and newly ordained priest for the archdiocese of Chicago. I was at Holy Name Cathedral for his ordination on that beautiful day, May 15, 2021. Ryan will tell us about his call to be a priest, the difference that having a vocation call later in life can make, the importance of the family in a vocation, and some of the experiences and ministries that are part and parcel of training for the priesthood, such as spending months as a hospital chaplain.

He’ll also explain how our lives became intertwined. It’s a story you might have read – A Chalice Goes Home – on my blog! Be sure to stay tuned for our conversation (Part I of two parts).

And by the way, pray every day for priests and for vocations to the priesthood.

Ordination Day

After Fr. Brady’s First Mass (I was a lector and in the sanctuary and did not take any photos – his folks will be sending me some pix)

Mass at St. Patrick’s in Rome

Breaking bread in Rome

IN THE UNITED STATES, you can listen to Vatican Insider (VI) on a Catholic radio station near you (stations listed at www.ewtn.com) or on channel 130 Sirius-XM satellite radio, or on http://www.ewtn.com. OUTSIDE THE U.S., you can listen to EWTN radio on our website home page by clicking on the right side where you see “LISTEN TO EWTN.” VI airs at 5am and 9pm ET on Saturdays and 6am ET on Sundays. On the GB-IE feed (which is on SKY in the UK and Ireland), VI airs at 5:30am, 12 noon and 10pm CET on Sundays. Both of these feeds are also available on the EWTN app and on www.ewtnradio.net ALWAYS CHECK YOUR OWN TIME ZONE! For VI archives: go to https://www.ewtn.com/radio/audio-archive and write the name of the guest for whom you are serarching in the SEARCH box. Below that, will appear “Vatican Insider” – click on that and the link to that particular episode will appear.

 

THANK YOU, POPE BENEDICT! MAY GOD CONTINUE TO SIT ON YOUIR SHOULDER!

How I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall – or an invited guest – at this Vatican celebration of Benedict XVI’s 65th anniversary of his priesthood! Beautiful words from and about both men.

I also had a very privileged day – a single, unique day – when I spoke to both Popes, the reigning Pope Francis and Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. How many people on earth could even say that! Those special moments occurred on Saturday, October 19, 2013 – a story I will tell some day!

In the meantime, I want to get ahead of myself with today’s column. I have some photos I took in Germany in 2006 when Pope Benedict visited his native Bavaria for the first time as Pope, including pictures of the church in which he and his brother Georg were altar boys together and learned to play the organ. I found a photo online of the brothers on the day they were ordained to the priesthood 65 years ago tomorrow. I was going to post those photos tomorrow, on the actual anniversary day but given this morning’s marvelous celebrations in the Vatican, I’ll place them within this article. The two photos of the Popes embracing are from AP and CTV.

THANK YOU, POPE BENEDICT! MAY GOD CONTINUE TO SIT ON YOUR SHOULDER!

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday hosted a celebration for the 65th anniversary of the priestly ordination of his predecessor Benedict, the pope emeritus. Joseph Ratzinger, who took the name Benedict XVI when he was elected to the papacy in 2005, attended the celebration in the Sala Clementina within the Apostolic Palace. More than thirty cardinals were also present, as well as a number of other invited guests.

The event began with music from the Sistine Choir and a speech by Pope Francis. In his remarks, the Supreme Pontiff recalled St Peter’s response to Jesus’ question, “Do you love me?” “Lord, you know that I love you,” answered the first Pope. And this, the current Pope said, “is the note that has dominated a life spent entirely in the service of the priesthood and of the true theology”.

Pope Francis said that Benedict continues to serve the Church, “not ceasing to truly contribute to her growth with strength and wisdom.” “And you do this,” he said, “from that little Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican, that is shown in that way to be anything but that forgotten little corner to which today’s culture of waste tends to relegate people when, with age, their strength diminishes.” He spoke, too, about the “Franciscan” dimension of the monastery, which recalls the Portiuncula, the “little portion” where St Francis founded his order, and laid down his life. Divine Providence, he said, “has willed that you, dear Brother, should reach a place one could truly call ‘Franciscan’, from which emanates a tranquillity, a peace, a strength, a confidence, a maturity, a faith, a dedication, and a fidelity that does so much good for me, and gives strength to me and to the whole Church.”

At the conclusion of his remarks, Pope Francis offered best wishes to Pope emeritus Benedict on behalf of himself and of the whole Church, with the prayer for Benedict, “That you, Holiness, might continue to feel the hand of the merciful God who supports you; that you might continue to experience and witness to us the love of God; that, with Peter and Paul, you might continue to rejoice with great joy as you journey toward the goal of the faith.”

The view from the little church –

Later, after more music and speeches by Cardinals Gerhard Müller and Angelo Sodano – respectively Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Dean of the College of Cardinals – Benedict offered words of thanks to all his well-wishers, and in a particular way to Pope Francis. Speaking to the Holy Father, Benedict said, “Your kindness, from the first moment of the election, in every moment of my life here, strikes me, is a source of real inspiration for me. More than in the Vatican Gardens, with their beauty, your goodness is the place where I dwell: I feel protected.”

The Pope emeritus also reflected on the concept of “thanksgiving,” reflecting on a word written, in Greek, on a remembrance card from his first Mass. That word, he said, suggests “not only human thanksgiving, but naturally hints at the more profound word that is hidden, which appears in the liturgy, in the Scriptures,” and in the words of consecration. The Greek word “eucharistomen,” he said, “brings us back to that reality of thanksgiving, to that new dimension that Christ has given it. He has transformed into thanksgiving, and so into blessing, the Cross, suffering, all the evil of the world. And thus He has fundamentally transubstantiated life and the world, and has given us, and gives us today the Bread of true life, which overcomes the world thanks to the strength of his love.”

PS. A cousin of the Ratzinger brothers showed us the little pewter cups that the young brothers used when they played at being priests –