Comments on: RIP Pope Benedict

By: PA+Cat

PA+Cat — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 01:37:45 +0000

SCOTTthe BADGER– How are you and your family doing? IIRC, you just survived a house fire.

By: kimo

kimo — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 00:44:34 +0000

Pope Benedict wrote a beautiful summation of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ in 3 books: Jesus of Nazareth.. What was enlightening to me was that the books defined not just a dogmatic or Catholic viewpoint, but the entirety of Christianity itself. A picture of Christ’s walk on earth so clear, that it in my mind I imagined being there with Him…. RIP Pope Benedict

By: huxley

huxley — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 00:38:00 +0000

CV: I took a look at the “Come Meet Jesus” pdf you linked. The author makes a good case for the nature of Benedict’s faith:
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A pope does not leave his own interests and expertise at the door of the Sistine Chapel when he is elected, so all these points of study that interested Joseph Ratzinger over his decades as an academic theologian continue to inform his writing as pope.

However, when you listen and read the papal writings attentively, it is difficult not to notice one particular element that seems to come into focus no matter what the specific topic or who the audience is.

That “element” is a person: Jesus Christ.
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Many Christians understand Christianity as an intellectual belief system. It’s true that Christianity contains a belief system and that’s important, but the real heart of Christianity IMO is an experience of Christ, not a set of beliefs.

The author then quotes Benedict directly and Benedict is very clear he is talking about an experience of friendship with Christ.
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If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful, and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation…. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ—and you will find true life.
______________________

That kinda surprised me. It reminds me of evangelicals talking about their “personal relationship with Jesus”, which sounds somewhat insane in our secular, materialist society.

It’s not a foreign idea in Catholicism. Probably other popes have said similar things somewhere along the line. But I can recall only two Catholics I knew who talked that way.

By: Faith2014

Faith2014 — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 18:09:15 +0000

P.E. B16 was instrumental in bringing me home to God and Church after 25 years of atheism. (The other man was the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, long deceased but thanks be to EWTN.)

I’m saddened beyond belief.

By: CV

CV — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 13:33:33 +0000

What a gift to humanity Pope Benedict was. For anyone interested in reading a short introduction to his life and teaching:

https://amywelborn.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/come_meet_jesus.pdf

I also appreciated this reflection on his impact on writer Sohrab Ahmari:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/31/opinion/pope-benedict-dead-catholic-church.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqYhlSlUYAibSRdkhrxqAwuDI2LF5jHL4ISSUQioHw-kcD82L8lvNYq5ibJ443ymBT98HMKMqQLY66N5jCHFXalvipIqYytNCKj8pqIm3UyRshp_GV-ti_HqyZWPnbbpxneT67x7caH2-UfSI0nImdFpgp5B1ZBr9jyxzs6TPFOB02tl_2-5wRcwpAGddO1TZ-qXgGB58O96ZbhrD6AFQWOtRXDvbmdD0-KtXOUwJSgqAFCUjlD56vNBMO9oXPrL9Lwojfaf-g7YXCG9vJeS5FhOGdIZJWRVJhSo7Gy3V7V4&referringSource=articleShare

By: SCOTTtheBADGER

SCOTTtheBADGER — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 12:57:07 +0000

This Lutheran Badger was very impressed by Pope Benedict. A very Good Man

By: AesopFan

AesopFan — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 07:21:13 +0000

Meaning no disrespect to either pontiff.
However, I do think Benedict was the better of the two, probably in the top ten, historically.

By: AesopFan

AesopFan — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 06:55:21 +0000

@ Neo > “the first German pope in about 1000 years”

I still remember watching news reports of his election, where one of the commentators remarked, in hushed reverent tones, that he was the first non-Catholic pope in hundreds of years.
She meant non-Italian, of course, but it cracked me up.

The Babylon Bee sets the record straight.
https://babylonbee.com/news/pope-francis-announces-passing-of-final-catholic-pope

By: Sharon W

Sharon W — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 22:03:40 +0000

I have deep respect for Pope Benedict. I have a daily devotion book that some nuns put together that glean from his writings. One of my favorite resources for Christian thought. I woke during the night and prayed for him. I just looked it up, it would have been within the hour of his death.

By: Art Deco

Art Deco — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 19:43:42 +0000

I keep hoping his cousins in Australia have a letter written in his hand explaining his conduct in 2013.