Pope Francis expressed “gratitude” to his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who died on Saturday, and greeted a “noble and kind” person during a celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica.
“Speaking of kindness, at this moment, thoughts turn spontaneously to the beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who left us this morning. With emotion we remember his personality, so noble, so kind, ”Francisco said in his homily.
“Only God knows the value and strength of your intercession” (asking in favor of another, according to the Catholic Church), Francis said, a few hours after the death of the pope emeritus, at the age of 95.
In his homily, referring to the figure of Benedict XVI, the Pope defended kindness “as a civic virtue” in today’s world.
This characteristic, he stressed, “is an important factor in the culture of dialogue” and “essential to live in peace as brothers who do not always agree, it is normal, but who talk among themselves.”
Pope Francis also referred to the “sacrifices offered for the good of the Church” by his predecessor.
And he added: “We feel great gratitude in our hearts, gratitude to God for having given him to the Church and to the world, and gratitude to him for all the good he has done and, above all, for his witness of faith and prayer. , especially in these last years of retired life”.
Former Pope Benedict XVI, who died on Saturday at the age of 95, will be buried on January 5 in a crypt in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the Vatican announced.
Joseph Ratzinger was Pope between 2005 and 2013, when he abdicated and became emeritus of the diocese of Rome, two months before his eighth year in office.
Joseph Ratzinger was born in 1927 in Marktl am Inn, in the German diocese of Passau, becoming the first German to preside over the Catholic Church in many centuries and a representative of the most dogmatic line of the Church.
The sexual abuse of minors by priests and the “Vatileaks”, in which case confidential papal documents were revealed, were issues that stirred his pontificate.
Benedict XVI called the abuses a “heinous crime” and apologized to the victims.
Source: TSF
