Requiescat in pace, Papa

Pope Benedict XVI passed away this morning. He spent the last years of his long life in solitude, praying for the Church. At 95, his death wasn’t exactly unexpected, but it is still a loss. And, I think, heaven’s gain. It is not a sad occasion. It is peaceful, calm, serenely joyous—Christmasy.

He was born Joseph Ratzinger the Saturday before Easter. He died Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI the Saturday after Christmas. It is also the feast day of Pope Sylvester I, an early holy pope and patron of Benedictines. It is fitting for a man who drew so much from symbolism.

His legacy will be mixed, I think. Obviously, he will be infamously remembered for stepping down from the papacy.

He was born in Bavaria in 1927. In 1939 he enrolled in minor seminary. In 1942, the school closed due to the war. He was conscripted into the Hitler Youth, though it was well-established that his family opposed Nazism. In 1945 he was conscripted into military training but deserted upon news of American advancement and returned home. In late 1945, he and his brother entered seminary and ordained in 1951. He served at a parish in Munich. He continued to study, writing on St. Augustine and St. Bonaventure. He became a professor in 1958, teaching at Freising College, University of Bonn, and University of Munster.

In 1962, the Second Vatican Council convened. He was invited for his academic and theological knowledge and was known as a reformer, part of the theologians at the time calling for church reform, a renewed focus on social issues, and ecumenical cooperation.

In 1969, he cofounded the theological journal Communio with other heavy-hitting theologians such as Hans Urs von Balthasar and Henri de Lubac.

In 1977 he became Archbishop of Munich and Freising. His episcopal motto was “cooperatores veritatis,” “cooperators of the truth.” This appointment also led to him receiving the title of cardinal from Pope Paul VI.

In 1981, Pope John Paul II named him Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, basically the top theologian in the Church. He served in this office for the next 20 years.

He joined the European Academy of Sciences and Arts just a year after its foundation in 1990. His writings continued to strongly defend the Faith, and he became known as a conservative voice, though he maintained that his stances never changed from his “reformer” days.

Under this position in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he was responsible for enforcing internal Church investigations, including those of priests accused of sexual abuse. His handling would be thoroughly criticized when the Church sex abuse scandal broke in 2002.

In 1997, when he turned 70, he requested to leave the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith and to become an archivist in the Vatican Secret Archives and a librarian in the Vatican Library (because who wouldn’t want that?). Unfortunately for him, Pope John Paul II denied his request.

Then, in 2005, he was elected pope after four ballots. It was said that he was planning to retire after the conclave and said that "At a certain point, I prayed to God 'please don't do this to me'...Evidently, this time He didn't listen to me." He took the name Benedict after Pope Benedict X (who was pope during WWI) and St. Benedict (patron of Europe and founder of Benedictines).

In his first public words to the world as pope, he said, “The Cardinals have elected me, a simple, humble laborer in the vineyard of the Lord. The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act even with insufficient instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers.”

One of my personal favorite actions of his as pope was naming St. Hildegard of Bingen as the fourth female (34^th total) Doctor of the Church. He also created the Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, aimed at understanding the current circumstances of people and belief and the modern means of effectively reaching people.

In 2013, he famously announced that would be resigning the papacy, the first pope to do so since 1294. He was close to 86, the fourth oldest pope in history. He said his deteriorating health could not meet the physical and mental demands of the papacy. He had seen the deterioration of Pope John Paul II and sought a different path. He spent his post-papacy life at a monastery in the Vatican. He wrote some more, returning to theology. But mostly he became a hermit, praying in solitude and offering brotherly friendship to the new pope, Francis. I think if he had remained pope, he wouldn’t have lived so long. And it’s nice to think that he found peace in a quieter life in his last years.

I think in time it will be his writings and theology that will be remembered. He was more an academic than a public figure. His books, homilies, and encyclicals are brilliant. If you haven’t, you should check them out. I know I’ll be revisiting his words in the coming days and probably years.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.

"Truth and love coincide in Christ. To the extent that we draw close to Christ, in our own lives too, truth and love are blended. Love without truth would be blind; truth without love would be like 'a clanging cymbal.'" -homily at opening of conclave that elected him, April 18, 2005