P R E F A C E BENEDICT XVI • 3 2 • BENEDICT XVI Most Holy Father, When you were Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, you did me the honor of receiving me on several occasions. I was won over by your exquisite courtesy. What struck me most, or rather touched me most, was the delicate intellectual charity you showed me. And then you became, under the name of Benedict XVI, the 265th successor of Peter. You lost none of your affectionate modesty in your elevation to the pontificate. Yes, it is you, the same man I knew, gentle and humble, even reserved, who have exercised the supreme ministry of servant of the servants of God. Like Peter speaking to the Centurion, your attitude seemed to say: Get up. I myself am also a human being (Acts 10:26). For you, true charity consists essentially in leading those you love to the Father through Jesus Christ, our brother in humanity, our God and our Savior. But you were not unaware of the difficulties of your new office: your homily at the conclave, for the Mass pro eligendo romano pontifice, gave the difficult program of the pontificate to come: “Christ's mercy is not a grace that comes cheap, nor does it imply the trivialization of evil,” you observed. You remained the same, in everything, but in everything with breadth and length and height and depth, which are given only to those to whom the Lord has said: When you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go ( Jn 21:18). For your first Christmas as pope (2005), you published Deus caritas est, “God is love.” Your purpose is clear: to point out the spiritual way that surpasses all others (1 Cor 12:31): “I wish in my first Encyclical to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others.” Your work is a masterpiece that has met with immense success and touched many hearts. Authentic love can only be lived in truth, which should be particularly true in the Church of Christ. Have you not said on several occasions that: “The greatest persecution of the church does not come from enemies on the outside, but is born in sin inside the church”? The measures you took to put an end to financial scandals and sexual abuse revealed your determination and your courage. But by the age of 85, you were clearly aware that the difficulty of your task had increased in the same proportion as your strength to face it had diminished. Out of love for the Church, whose trials call for a pope in full possession of his powers, you made the decision to resign from your ministry. After the election of your successor, Pope Francis, you retired to the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican gardens. For many years, God would give you life there. You were able to dedicate yourself once again to study, meditation, and prayer, interceding unceasingly for the Church that you loved so much. Today, Holy Father, you have been welcomed into the bosom of the Father: now we can tell you, without embarrassing your modesty, that we have loved you, as a theologian, as the “right-hand man” to Pope John Paul II, both as pope and as a man. Here you are in the company of the One whom you have dedicated your life to loving in each of his brothers and sisters. May you, through the intercession of the true Mater Ecclesiae, ask him, close to his heart, to remember that he is the true head of his Church, who promised: I am with you always, until the end of the age. BY PIERRE-MARIE DUMONT, Founding Publisher of Magnificat © Osservatore Romano
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