March 6, 2013

By Suzanne Pietropaoli
Staff writer

It seems only yesterday that I prayed, tearfully, in front of the Tabernacle as Pope John Paul II endured his final agony.  Of all the things I grieved for that day, on one point I was proved utterly  mistaken:  who, I wondered then,  could possibly take the place of the beloved Polish Pontiff whose charisma had charmed the entire world—and whose holiness was so real that he was beatified a few scant years after his death? 

God answered that question with the rapid election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict the XVI, whose historic resignation becomes effective as I write these words.  Once again, the deep sense of loss mingles with concern for the future; once again there is awe, and gratitude for having had such a Holy Father—saintly, scholarly, and utterly paternal.

Once again I find myself pondering my attachment to a man I have never met. A few months ago, I was privileged to join the crowd in St. Peter’s Square gathered for the  Sunday Angelus: Pope Benedict was a distant tiny figure in the window of his Vatican apartments - but his voice was sure and surprisingly strong as he led the huge crowd in prayer and then offered thoughtful greetings in six different languages. As I listened to his English greeting,  empathizing over the Newtown, Conn., tragedy of a few days earlier, the word “universal” came to mind: not only was this octogenarian responsible for a billion Catholics, he chose to know the sufferings of all—and to be present to them in prayer and in love.

This was a father who suffered with his children, and who offered them the consolation of their Father’s love.
Clearly this is nothing unusual for the man who wrote that, “The Chair [of Peter] represents [the pope’s] mission as guide of the entire People of God. Celebrating the “Chair” of Peter means attributing a strong spiritual significance to it and recognizing it as a privileged sign of the love of God.” 

I remember the joy of reading Benedict’s first encyclical, DEUS CARITAS EST, with my husband and some of our adult children. In it, this scholar and author of 65 books writes clearly and beautifully “of the love which God lavishes upon us and which in turn we must share with others.” There is nothing dry or detached in his approach to his subject.  “Love grows through love,” he points out as he describes the importance of  constant contact with the God who has first loved us.

“Love is divine because it comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a ‘we’ which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is all in all,”  he Wrote. When later our family  read SPE SALVI, we found to our delight that it was  equally accessible;  in fact, there was something particularly powerful in Benedict’s choice to focus  attention on the theological virtues. 

Who could not be moved by a Pontiff who urges us toward that “encounter with God, who in Christ has shown us his face and opened his heart for us”? Himself singularly rich in faith, in hope, and in love, Pope Benedict understood that, “Evil, too, will always be part of the mystery of the Church.” 

Amid the storms of abuse scandals that confronted the Church during his papacy, Pope Benedict’s wise and fatherly response touched my husband and me in a very personal way.

Our oldest son, now a priest, entered the Legionaries of Christ in 2000.  The order was not one we would have chosen for him, and we struggled with the unbearably strict separation that it imposed upon our family.  When the scandalous double life of the order’s founder was made public, it seemed to confirm all our long-standing negative impressions—and we of course wondered what would come next. Our rare visits with our son were a bit soured as we sought answers he did not have. 

Pope Benedict moved quickly to conduct an apostolic visitation, and appointed a Papal Delegate to assist in the necessary reforms. Obviously this was a step in the right direction, but the struggle to make sense of it all continued. It was not until our son directed us to BENEDICT XVI: LIGHT OF THE WORLD that light began to dawn for us. How consoling to read that even the Pope was baffled by the contrast between the “twisted life” of the founder and the “dynamism and strength…of the Legionaries”!

He noted that, “by and large the congregation is sound.” He remarked on the spirit and enthusiasm of its young members while promising them the guidance necessary in their service to the Church.  He noted the “remarkable paradox that a false prophet could still have a positive effect.”  

Our Holy Father’s wise words helped to calm our fears and heal our hearts; we have been blessed to see with our own eyes some of the fruits of his paternal care for the Legionaries of Christ - and we are enormously grateful.

Yes, it is still a bit sad that Benedict XVI is no longer our Pope.  But how consoling that his fatherly love  does not end today!  “I feel that I carry everyone in prayer in a present that is God’s,” he said in his final General Audience.  “…In the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St. Peter’s bounds.”