Commentary

Remembering Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

By Benedict Assorow, Managing Editor of The Catholic Standard

Last Saturday, December 31, 2022, world and religious leaders reacted with sadness and paid tributes following the announcement of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the age of 95.

Most of the tributes described Pope Benedict as a deep thinker, philosopher, and renowned theologian and acknowledged his untiring efforts, during his Papacy, to find a common path in promoting peace and goodwill throughout the world. Polish President Andrzej Duda said the former Pope’s teaching was a “guide post among the many winding and deceptive paths of the contemporary world.”

Pope Francis celebrated a funeral Mass for him in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican with officials from around the world in attendance. This is said to be the first time in the Church’s 2023 years that a Pope has buried his predecessor.

Pope Benedict succeeded Pope John Paul II (now a Saint) in 2005 as head of the Catholic Church of over one and a half billion faithful around the world. He led the Church through very challenging times. Pope Benedict surprised the world with his resignation on February 11, 2013. Pope Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger in 1927 in Germany, was the first Pope in more than 600 years to have resigned; he cited declining health and that his mental and physical strength had deteriorated “to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.”

This gesture of his makes him a true leader who seeks to serve and not just to be in power. This is something worth emulating by all people in leadership positions, particularly African leaders.

People in authority should be consciously aware of their incapacities and bow out with dignity instead of holding on to positions to satisfy their insatiable desire for power and for self-glorification.

The world and the Catholic Church in particular has indeed lost a brilliant theologian, teacher and pastor.

Pope Benedict will definitely be remembered for his public theological debates, speeches, writings, books and his well-crafted encyclicals that outlined his vision of the modern world and the challenges confronting Catholicism. He was also known for criticizing what he saw as the modern world’s rejection of God and Christianity’s timeless truths. Indeed, Pope Benedict was a staunch defender of the Church, Christian faith, morality; justice and peace.

Pope Benedict wanted to move from defining the Catholic Church by what it is against to what it stood for. Throughout his pontificate, he promoted Ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.

For his nearly nine years as a Pope, Benedict XVI made two Visits to Africa- Cameroon, Angola and Benin.

During his Papacy, the late Pope Benedict paid special attention to the continent of Africa not only for the growth of the Church but also for the socio-economic development of Africa. This, he said, was his “wish for the whole of Africa, which is so dear to me! Africa, be confident and rise up!”

Pope Benedict XVI in his second visit to Africa where he presented the Apostolic Exhortation ‘Africae Munus’ (Commitment to Africa), which contains all the conclusions and proposals of the Synod of Bishops for Africa in Benin in November 2011 appealed to the political leadership of Africa to always do what is right and to govern with wisdom and integrity. “Adopt a courageous ethical approach to your responsibilities and, if you are believers, ask God to grant you wisdom! This wisdom will help you to understand that, as promoters of your peoples’ future, you must become true servants of hope.”

Referring to the continent’s history of corruption and cronyism, the Pope recognized that it is not easy to live the life of a servant, to remain consistent amid the currents of opinion and powerful interests. Power, the late Pope warned, “easily blinds,” especially when private, family, ethnic or religious interests are at stake. He also appealed to political leaders not to deprive their peoples of hope. “Do not cut them off from their future by mutilating their present! Adopt a courageous ethical approach to your responsibilities.”

To the Bishops of Africa, the late Pope pointed out that “To make your message credible, see to it that your Dioceses become models in the conduct of personnel, in transparency and good financial management………Do not hesitate to seek help from experts in auditing, so as to give a good example to the faithful and to society at large.”

For us in Ghana, we recall his having appointed Peter Cardinal Turkson as the first Ghanaian President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace who later became the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development.

What Pope Benedict was to the Church, to Africa and to the world cannot be said in any better way than how Pope Francis described him during his New Year’s Eve celebration at the Vatican:

“We are moved as we recall him (Pope Benedict) as such a noble person, so kind. And we feel such gratitude in our hearts: gratitude to God for having given him to the Church and to the world; gratitude to him for all the good he accomplished, and above all, for his witness of faith and prayer, especially in these last years of his recollected life. Only God knows the value and the power of his intercession, of the sacrifices he offered for the good of the Church.”

Indeed, the world has not only lost a great Pastor, intellectual, outstanding theologian and scholar, but someone who constantly placed himself at the service of proclaiming the Catholic faith and justice and peace in the world.

Rest eternally in the bosom of the Good Lord, Papa!