Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, formerly Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, is dead at the age of 95. Libraries will be devoted to the life and writings of Benedict XVI, so I’ll offer now just a small but great thing, the words from the pontiff’s historic visit to Erfurt, Germany in 2011, where the then-Pope made the following ecumenical remarks at Martin Luther’s spiritual birthplace:
As the Bishop of Rome, it is deeply moving for me to be meeting you here in the ancient Augustinian convent in Erfurt. As we have just heard, this is where Luther studied theology. This is where he celebrated his first Mass. Against his father’s wishes, he did not continue the study of Law, but instead he studied theology and set off on the path towards priesthood in the Order of Saint Augustine. And on this path, he was not simply concerned with this or that. What constantly exercised him was the question of God, the deep passion and driving force of his whole life’s journey. “How do I receive the grace of God?”: this question struck him in the heart and lay at the foundation of all his theological searching and inner struggle. For Luther theology was no mere academic pursuit, but the struggle for oneself, which in turn was a struggle for and with God.
While the pope did not waver from the Catholic Church’s position on Luther’s purported errancy, it was a visit of note — made in good faith.
Benedict’s concluding message suggested the need for Christian brotherhood in light of muscular secularism:
The second challenge to worldwide Christianity of which I wish to speak is more profound and in our country more controversial: the secularized context of the world in which we Christians today have to live and bear witness to our faith. God is increasingly being driven out of our society, and the history of revelation that Scripture recounts to us seems locked into an ever more remote past. Are we to yield to the pressure of secularization, and become modern by watering down the faith? Naturally faith today has to be thought out afresh, and above all lived afresh, so that it is suited to the present day. Yet it is not by watering the faith down, but by living it today in its fullness that we achieve this. This is a key ecumenical task in which we have to help one another: developing a deeper and livelier faith. It is not strategy that saves us and saves Christianity, but faith – thought out and lived afresh; through such faith, Christ enters this world of ours, and with him, the living God. As the martyrs of the Nazi era brought us together and prompted that great initial ecumenical opening, so today, faith that is lived from deep within amid a secularized world is the most powerful ecumenical force that brings us together, guiding us towards unity in the one Lord. And we pray to him, asking that we may learn to live the faith anew, and that in this way we may then become one.
Pope Benedict XVI did not airily dismiss the schism between Protestants and Catholics, but he showed tremendous faith in the ultimate reunion of the two. While it’s difficult to imagine such a titanic repair of the Church’s foundation, I’d not gainsay the Lord’s ability to do so. Rather, I hope for the day that I’ll be able to eavesdrop in Heaven’s pub, listening to Ratzinger and Luther debate the finer points of Leipzig — Spotted Cow will be on tap, naturally.
Kathryn, my favorite Catholic (of many), has a beautiful post about Benedict here. And, for a more comprehensive account, Timothy Nerozzi has a well-informed column at Fox News.