“Benedict XVI was aware of the need for the reform of the Church” recalls Cardinal De Kesel

The readings of this liturgy are the readings of this day, of the Friday before Epiphany. In the Gospel Mark tells us about the baptism of Jesus. During this baptism a voice comes from heaven and says: “You are my beloved Son; in you I find my joy”. This voice is the voice of God. It is God who bears witness and reveals Jesus as his Son. Saint John returns to it in his
first letter that we read. “We accepted the testimony of men well; but the testimony of God is more valuable. But he says at the same time that this testimony is only accessible to those who have faith. It’s curious: on the one hand there is no faith without signs or testimonies, but on the other hand it is only faith that opens our eyes and makes us understand these signs and testimonies. This is what constitutes the mystery of faith. Faith cannot be rationalized.

This mystery of faith has been central to the life and mission of Pope Benedict. From the beginning, already as a young theologian, he was passionate about the question of faith. A faith which is not opposed to reason, but which at the same time is not confused with it. He was aware of the need and importance of renewal and reform in the Church. It was with all his heart and with great skill that he participated as an expert in the Second Vatican Council. And like the Council, he too knew that this reform had to take concrete form at the level of the structures of the Church. But here is what remained his deep conviction: what use are these structural reforms if they are not aimed at a renewal of the faith. And especially faith in God. When we see the current situation and when we consider the future of the Church, this is the real question and the decisive question: the possibility of faith and its relevance in society. It is said that Pope Benedict was above all a theologian. But let us not forget that this question of God and truth, a theological question that he always tried to make heard, is far from being a question without pastoral relevance.

“Collaborator of Truth”. This was his episcopal motto. This truth is not the truth of an idea. God is not an idea nor faith an ideology. In his encyclical Deus Caritas est, he writes: “At the origin of being a Christian, there is not an ethical decision or a great idea, but the encounter with an event, with a Person” (1) . It is not an idea but this encounter which gives faith its decisive orientation. It is therefore not surprising that this first encyclical does not deal with faith but with love and with God who is love. There is only truth in love. As the psalm says: “Love and truth meet, justice and peace kiss” (Ps. 84, 11).

Pope Benedict was a kind, discreet, delicate and very cultured man. “So noble and gentle personality”, as Pope Francis said. When he was a theology student and young professor, the Church experienced a time of grace and hope. Several years already before the Council, the liturgical movement, the rediscovery and the better understanding of Scripture and of the Fathers of the Church had accomplished truly innovative work. He committed himself fully to this new theology and remained faithful to it. But after the Council, a desire for renewal and change arose in society. Here too the end of an era was announced. For him, the big question was how the renewal of the Council could go hand in hand with that of society. This question still lingers for us today.

It wasn’t just a few changes. We are not living in a time of change but a change of time. A society in which faith in God is no longer self-evident; where faith may mean something for the private life of the citizen but would be insignificant for the world and life in society. He felt and recognized this with great lucidity and he suffered because here too it concerned the truth. And again not a theoretical truth but the truth which is God himself. Of course, he answered this question in his own way, depending on his history and his sensitivity. Not everyone will share their answers. That he confronted us with this crucial question and that he dealt with it in such depth remains a legacy for which we must be grateful, a legacy which we also have to maintain.

Dear friends, I know that every comparison is lame. But the personality of Pope Benedict makes me think of that of Saint Augustine. He also did his doctorate on the theology of this great Father of the Church. Benedict XVI was also a great theologian who, despite all pastoral worries, found the time to speak and write. And who was at the same time, like Augustine, a very spiritual man, a man of God. The resignation of Pope Benedict was an act of lucidity but at the same time a great lesson in humility for the whole Church. For almost ten years, he led a life of withdrawal, a life of prayer for the good of the Church and the salvation of the world. With the greatest respect for his successor Pope Francis and increasingly in deep communion with him.

Let us give thanks to God for all that he has given us in the person and mission of his servant, who, on his election as universal pastor of the Church, presented himself as “humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord”. . Let’s pray for him. This is what he himself asked of us at the end of his testament: “Pray for me, so that the Lord, despite all my sins and my shortcomings, may receive me into eternal dwellings. May the Lord now show him the clarity of his countenance and the truth of his love.

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