To be honest, I have never been an admirer of Pope Benedict XVI. In fact, I must say, given the experience of him as the head of Vatican’s influential Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), I have had some strong prejudices.

However, having been around during the time of his passing on and having heard some of the personal sharing, I have a different view of the man. In addition, death always gives one a different perspective.

Christianity is all about an encounter with a person

What struck me first was a full-page advertisement and a quote from Pope Benedict that it carried on the L’ Osservatore Romano. It said, “We have believed in God’s love. At the beginning of being a Christian there is not an ethical decision or a great idea, but the encounter with an event, with a person, that gives life a new direction and a decisive direction.”

In fact, “ultimately, through all his theological work he sought to show how Jesus Christ is the centre of all things and gives direction and a greater horizon to human beings in an age beset by the trivialising of life and the constant reduction of the human person to something less than what Christ reveals we can be”, observed Patrick Burke, a close associate of Pope Benedict, while he was a cardinal. And his final words will remain a lasting memory of this man’s deep faith: ‘Lord I love you’.

Father of Catechism of the Catholic Church

As Cardinal Ratzinger, he strove ‘to see the doctrine of the faith as an organic whole, taking into account the nexus mysteriorum, the intimate connection among all the teachings of the faith and their symphony. The Catechism was not to be an arid and abstract doctrinal structure, but rather make people perceive the beauty of the faith…’

‘Under his guidance, his constant encouragement and his spiritual fatherhood, the work grew to be what it finally became after the promulgation by Pope John Paul II: a sure measure and orientation for faith in our time. The Catechism remains a great witness of the determining force of the theologian Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’, said Cardinal ChristophSchönborn.

A legacy of ecumenical dialogue

In a notable tribute to the late Pope, the secretary of the World Council of Churches said, ‘Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has left a legacy of ecumenical dialogue. He was the first pope to have come from a country, Germany, with a roughly equal balance between Protestants and Catholics, and one that had been at the very centre of the 16th century formation”. ‘Pope Benedict forged ecumenical friendships even as dialogue slowed’, observed Cindy Wooden. ‘Even when ecumenical progress seemed slow, though, Pope Benedict continued to preach the importance of Christian unity and to recognize the duty of the pope to be its chief proponent.’

In the context of increasing neglect of ecumenical dialogues and conflicts among different groups of churches particularly in Asia and Africa, Pope Benedict’s emphasis on ecumenical dialogue needs to be re-captured.

The Intellectual legacy of Pope Benedict

There is no denying that Pope Benedict was an intellectual. In fact, that could have been the precise reason why he would have put off some faithful, especially in contrast to the popular and down to earth Pope Francis. But as observed by Patrick Burke , “But above all Ratzinger’s legacy will be intellectual – he was an influential theologian at the Second Vatican Council; he engaged in the debate on faith and reason, championing the validity of faith in what has become a profoundly relativistic age; and he attempted to refocus Catholic scriptural exegesis through a new lens” (The Spectator 7 January 2023)

Farewell dear Papa

Pope Benedict XVI, among many other contributions especially in theological writings, leaves behind a unique legacy of companionship to Jesus, faithfulness to the Creed, intellectual depth and ecumenical dialogue. All of them remain crucial reminders to a beleaguered Catholic Church.

Let us join Pope Francis as he said in his homily during the funeral Mass, ‘“Father, into your hands we commend his spirit… Benedict, faithful friend of the Bridegroom, may your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever!’

M.K.George S.J., Matters India