At noon today in Rome, in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, there was a special celebration to commemorate the 65th anniversary of priestly ordination of Pope emeritus Benedict XVI held in his presence.
Your Holiness,
Today, we celebrate the history of a call that began sixty-five years ago with your priestly Ordination, which took place in the Cathedral of Freising on 29 June 1951. But what is the base note that has been present throughout this long history and that from that first beginning has dominated until today?
One of the very beautiful pages that you dedicated to the priesthood highlights how, at the time of the definitive call issued to Simon, Jesus, looking at him, basically asked only one thing: Do you love me? How beautiful and true this is! For it is here, you tell us, in that Do you love me? that the Lord began to feed us, because only if we loved the Lord, can we in turn could be nourished: Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you (cf Jn 21:15-19). This is the note that dominates an entire life dedicated to priestly service and theology, which you, not by chance defined as a search for the beloved; this is what you have always testified, and what you continue to bear witness to even today: that the definitive character in our days - whether they be sunny or filled with rain - the only thing from which all else flows, is that the Lord is truly present, that we desire his presence, that within us, we are close to Him, that we love Him, that we truly and profoundly believe in Him and that he truly loves us. It is this love that truly fills our hearts, believing this is what makes it possible for us to walk safely and securely on the water, even in the midst of the storm, just as Peter did. This love and this belief is what allows us to look to the future not with fear or nostalgia, but with joy, even as we are now advanced in our years of life.
This is what we are experiencing and witnessing today in a truly intense and luminous way, this truly decisive truth - to have our gaze and our hearts focused on God - You, Holiness, continue to serve the Church, never ceasing to truly contribute with vigour and wisdom to her growth; and you do this from the small Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican which in this way is revealed as anything but a forgotten corner into which today's throw away culture tends to relegate people when, with advancing age, their strength is lessened. This is very much the contrary. This is what allows me, your Successor, who has chosen the name Francis, to speak. The spiritual call of Francis began at San Damiano, but the true place of love, the pulsing heart of his Call, which he heard in his heart, and the place where he finally gave his life to God was the Porziuncola, the little portion, the corner near to the Mother of the Church; near to Mary, who through her firm faith and through her interior life of love and because of her love for the Lord, all generations have called her blessed. So it is that Providence has willed that You, dear Confrere, have come to a place which is, so to speak, Franciscan, from which tranquility emanates, as well as peace, strength, trust, maturity, faith, dedication and loyalty which is so good for me and gives me and the entire Church much strength. Let me also say that you also have a healthy and joyous sense of humour.
Therefore, the hope with which I wish to conclude is an exhortation that I address to you, on behalf of all of us and of the whole Church, that Your Holiness may continue to feel the hand of the merciful God who sustains you, and that you might experience and bear witness to the love of God; that, with Peter and Paul, you may continue to exalt with great joy as you journey toward the goal of our faith (cf 1 Peter 1:8-9; 2 Timothy 4:6-8)!
Holy Father,
It is a great honour to be able to participate in this moment of joy which you desired for the joyful occasion of the sixty-five years of priestly ordination of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. A few weeks ago, for the Jubilee of Priests and Seminarians, you yourself placed at the centre of your reflection, the essence of the priestly mission: to allow ourselves to re-create the merciful heart of God, in order that we ourselves might help others to allow themselves to be shaped by His heart.
You quoted the great French writer George Bernanos, who in his novel The Diary of a Country Priest, spoke of joy as the great gift which the Church is called to offer to the world: first of all, the joy of the proclamation that our sins are already waiting for God's forgiveness! Proclamation and joy are words which are at the heart of the Gospel, and they are also two points which figure prominently in your magesterial teaching as well as that of your predecessor.
Dear Pope Emeritus,
For many years, you have reminded us - both with your words and with your life - that this joy comes first of all from trusting abandonment to the mysterious and good will that the Risen Jesus wishes to accomplish in each of us. The joy of the gospel is above all His joy, and a gift of the Lord, flowing from His heart, which takes pity on our lowliness and loves us; it recreates us in his everlasting love.
It is this gift of love that finds direct reference in the title of the book, published in various languages, which we have the honour of offering you on this joyful occasion: Die Liebe Gottes Lehren und Lernen - To teach and to learn the Love of the Lord. In these words, everything is said: we are called to teach that which we in turn have learned from the Love of God.
You were entrusted to this Love sixty-five years ago through the priestly seal, together with your brother Georg, on the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. In the words of Saint Irenaeus, who we commemorate today, these two princes of the Apostles are the apostolic foundation of the Roman Church. This Feast of the two Apostles already prefigures, so to speak, the essential features of their mission: to proclaim the Word of God (Paul) and to confirm the brothers in their Faith (Peter). Time subsequently revealed in an admirable way that which began and was mysteriously pre-contained in them.
Dear Pope Emeritus, we are grateful for having been able to follow for many years, together with you, that which the Lord has brought to fruition through your priestly action. Now, we ask, with all our hearts, that He may bring to fulfillment what He has begun in you and which has already borne so much fruit among us. Thank you again for everything, Your Holiness, and thank you with all our hearts.
Venerated and dear Pope Francis, today, on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Your beloved Predecessor, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, You wished to present a fitting tribute in the name of the entire Church, which has enjoyed his pastoral ministry for the past 65 years, first as a Priest and subsequently as a Bishop in the See of München and Freising and then as Bishop of Rome mater et caput omium ecclesiarum (mother and head of the entire Church).
Holy Father, permit me too at this time to present to our beloved guest of honour the homage of his confrere Cardinals, with the words of Psalm 133 that flow from our hearts: Ecce quam bonum et guam jucundum habitare fratres in unum - Behold, how good and pleasant it is to live together in unity (Psalm 133)! Yes, at this moment, we are enjoying an atmosphere of great spiritual happiness and intense fraternity, in the common bond of service to the Holy Church of Christ.
Dear and venerable Pope emeritus, on the 29th of June of that long distant year of 1951, on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, You received presbyteral Ordination at the hands of the late Cardinal Faulhaber, together with Your dear brother Georg and 42 other companions. It was a great feast for your entire beloved Bavarian Archdiocese.
You desired to tell us about the sentiments you experienced on that day when you returned as the Successor of Peter to your beloved Archdiocese, in September 2006. While celebrating Holy Mass in the Cathedral of Freising, where your ordination took place, you relived in the presence of numerous priests who were present, the sentiments that still filled your heart. I too was present beneath the vaults of that magnificent Cathedral and remember well the emotion with which you spoke to the priests who were present.
In recent days, I re-read your Homily from that day, and I seemed to hear again the words that came at that moment from your heart. The Italian translation says: When I was here, prostrate on the floor and enveloped by the Litany of the Saints, I realized that we are not alone as we travel this road, rather the great multitude of saints walk with us, that that the saints who are still alive, including the faithful of today and tomorrow, support us and accompany us. Then there was the laying on of hands, and when Cardinal Faulhaber said: Jam non dico vos servos, sed amicos (I do not call you servants, but friends), at that moment I understood priestly ordination as an initiation into the community of the friends of Jesus, who are called to remain with Him and to proclaim his message (L'Osservatore Romano, 16 September 2006).
You then described the nature of this message that priests are called to spread throughout the world, summarizing it in two words: the priest must take the Light of God and the Love of God to the men of our times, or exactly, to use your own German words, the priest should take Gottes Licht und Gottes Liebe to all people.
In addition to your Homily, You added an urgent appeal to the priests who were present, namely an invitation to take the Light and the Love of Christ to all the world with the same feeling as Jesus, or to use your own words: Gesinnung Jesu Christi. This was the concept expressed by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians (Phil 2:5-8). This feeling that Christ had should result in a great love for those who have been distanced, toward the poor, the sick, the elderly and children.
Re-reading your words today, they seem to give us a foretaste of Pope Francis' Magesterium, which seems to invite us to reach out to those who are suffering most, sharing with them our fraternal love. This is the key to the message of the great Jubilee of Mercy that we are currently celebrating.
Venerated and dear Pope emeritus, on the happy anniversary of that day that took place 65 years ago, the College of Cardinals together with Pope Francis gathers around you to thank you for your long and generous service to the Church.
At the same time, we want to ask you to continue, although in a different form, your long ministry, as you had promised us on February 24, 2013, after having announced your decision to leave in new hands the guidance of the barque of Peter. At that time, you specifically told us: The Lord is calling me to climb the mountain, to dedicate myself even more to prayer and to meditation. But this does not mean that I am abandoning the Church, rather, if God is asking this of me, it is so that I can continue to serve with the same dedication and the same love with which I have sought to serve so far, but in a way that is more suitable for my age and my strength (Teachings of Benedict XVI, Vol. IX, page 263).
We are happy with your promise, sure that You will always be close with Your prayer and with Your affection. Finally, we say to You, in the words of a typical greeting from your Bavarian land: Behüt's Sie Gott! May God keep you!
Meanwhile, the Church of Rome, under the guidance of Pope Francis, the venerable Successor that Divine Providence has given to us, will continue with renewed vigour the journey through history, in service to the Christian community and all of humanity.
Congratulations!
Holy Father,
Dear brothers,
Sixty-five years ago, a brother who was ordained with me decided to write on the prayer card presented at his first Mass, nothing except his name, the date and one word in Greek: Eucharistomen, convinced that with this word, in all its dimensions, everything that can be said in this moment has already been said. Eucharistomen relates a human thank you, thank you to all of you. Thank you above all to You, Holy Father! Your goodness, from the first moment of your election, in every moment of my life here, it strikes me, touches me within. More than the Vatican gardens, with all their beauty, your goodness is the place where I live: I feel protected. Thank you also for the words of gratitude, for everything. We hope that you will be able to continue with us along the path of Divine Mercy, showing us the way to Jesus, toward Jesus, toward God.
Thank you also to you, Your Eminence (Cardinal Sodano), for your words which have truly touched my heart: Cor ad cor loquitur - Speaking heart to heart. You brought us back to the moment of my priestly ordination, and also to my visit to Freising in 2006, when I relived that moment. I can only say that with your words, you have understood the essential of my vision of priesthood, of my work. I am grateful to you for the ties of friendship that even at until now have continued for a long time, roof to roof (referring to their homes which are located close to one another): present and tangible.
Thank you, Cardinal Müller, for the work you are doing to present my books on the priesthood, in which I try to help our confreres to enter always anew into the mystery in which the Lord gives himself into our hands.
Eucharistomen: at that time, beloved Berger wanted to place the emphasis not only on the dimension of human gratitude, but naturally on the most profound word that is hidden, that appears in the Liturgy, in Scripture, in the words gratias agens benedixit fregit deditque - Giving thanks, he blessed it, broke it and gave it. Eucharistomen reminds us of the reality of thanksgiving, of the new dimension that Christ gives to this act. He transformed gratitude, and therefore blessed the cross, suffering, all forms of evil in the world. Thus, basically he transubstantiated life and the world and gave himself, and gives himself every day in the Bread of true life, which exceeds the world thanks to the strength of His love.
Finally, I want to add ourselves to this thank you offered to the Lord, and thus truly receive the newness of life and help for the transubstantiation of the world: a world not of death but of life; a world in which love has triumphed over death.
Thank you to all of you. May the Lord bless us all.
Thank you, Holy Father.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the 65th Anniversary of Priestly Ordination
of His Holiness, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI
Your Holiness,
Today, we celebrate the history of a call that began sixty-five years ago with your priestly Ordination, which took place in the Cathedral of Freising on 29 June 1951. But what is the base note that has been present throughout this long history and that from that first beginning has dominated until today?
One of the very beautiful pages that you dedicated to the priesthood highlights how, at the time of the definitive call issued to Simon, Jesus, looking at him, basically asked only one thing: Do you love me? How beautiful and true this is! For it is here, you tell us, in that Do you love me? that the Lord began to feed us, because only if we loved the Lord, can we in turn could be nourished: Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you (cf Jn 21:15-19). This is the note that dominates an entire life dedicated to priestly service and theology, which you, not by chance defined as a search for the beloved; this is what you have always testified, and what you continue to bear witness to even today: that the definitive character in our days - whether they be sunny or filled with rain - the only thing from which all else flows, is that the Lord is truly present, that we desire his presence, that within us, we are close to Him, that we love Him, that we truly and profoundly believe in Him and that he truly loves us. It is this love that truly fills our hearts, believing this is what makes it possible for us to walk safely and securely on the water, even in the midst of the storm, just as Peter did. This love and this belief is what allows us to look to the future not with fear or nostalgia, but with joy, even as we are now advanced in our years of life.
This is what we are experiencing and witnessing today in a truly intense and luminous way, this truly decisive truth - to have our gaze and our hearts focused on God - You, Holiness, continue to serve the Church, never ceasing to truly contribute with vigour and wisdom to her growth; and you do this from the small Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican which in this way is revealed as anything but a forgotten corner into which today's throw away culture tends to relegate people when, with advancing age, their strength is lessened. This is very much the contrary. This is what allows me, your Successor, who has chosen the name Francis, to speak. The spiritual call of Francis began at San Damiano, but the true place of love, the pulsing heart of his Call, which he heard in his heart, and the place where he finally gave his life to God was the Porziuncola, the little portion, the corner near to the Mother of the Church; near to Mary, who through her firm faith and through her interior life of love and because of her love for the Lord, all generations have called her blessed. So it is that Providence has willed that You, dear Confrere, have come to a place which is, so to speak, Franciscan, from which tranquility emanates, as well as peace, strength, trust, maturity, faith, dedication and loyalty which is so good for me and gives me and the entire Church much strength. Let me also say that you also have a healthy and joyous sense of humour.
Therefore, the hope with which I wish to conclude is an exhortation that I address to you, on behalf of all of us and of the whole Church, that Your Holiness may continue to feel the hand of the merciful God who sustains you, and that you might experience and bear witness to the love of God; that, with Peter and Paul, you may continue to exalt with great joy as you journey toward the goal of our faith (cf 1 Peter 1:8-9; 2 Timothy 4:6-8)!
Speech of His Eminence, Gerhardt Cardinal Müller
Curator of the Works of Joseph Ratziner
Holy Father,
It is a great honour to be able to participate in this moment of joy which you desired for the joyful occasion of the sixty-five years of priestly ordination of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. A few weeks ago, for the Jubilee of Priests and Seminarians, you yourself placed at the centre of your reflection, the essence of the priestly mission: to allow ourselves to re-create the merciful heart of God, in order that we ourselves might help others to allow themselves to be shaped by His heart.
You quoted the great French writer George Bernanos, who in his novel The Diary of a Country Priest, spoke of joy as the great gift which the Church is called to offer to the world: first of all, the joy of the proclamation that our sins are already waiting for God's forgiveness! Proclamation and joy are words which are at the heart of the Gospel, and they are also two points which figure prominently in your magesterial teaching as well as that of your predecessor.
Dear Pope Emeritus,
For many years, you have reminded us - both with your words and with your life - that this joy comes first of all from trusting abandonment to the mysterious and good will that the Risen Jesus wishes to accomplish in each of us. The joy of the gospel is above all His joy, and a gift of the Lord, flowing from His heart, which takes pity on our lowliness and loves us; it recreates us in his everlasting love.
It is this gift of love that finds direct reference in the title of the book, published in various languages, which we have the honour of offering you on this joyful occasion: Die Liebe Gottes Lehren und Lernen - To teach and to learn the Love of the Lord. In these words, everything is said: we are called to teach that which we in turn have learned from the Love of God.
You were entrusted to this Love sixty-five years ago through the priestly seal, together with your brother Georg, on the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. In the words of Saint Irenaeus, who we commemorate today, these two princes of the Apostles are the apostolic foundation of the Roman Church. This Feast of the two Apostles already prefigures, so to speak, the essential features of their mission: to proclaim the Word of God (Paul) and to confirm the brothers in their Faith (Peter). Time subsequently revealed in an admirable way that which began and was mysteriously pre-contained in them.
Dear Pope Emeritus, we are grateful for having been able to follow for many years, together with you, that which the Lord has brought to fruition through your priestly action. Now, we ask, with all our hearts, that He may bring to fulfillment what He has begun in you and which has already borne so much fruit among us. Thank you again for everything, Your Holiness, and thank you with all our hearts.
Speech of His Eminence, Angelo Cardinal Sodano
Dean of the College of Cardinals
Venerated and dear Pope Francis, today, on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Your beloved Predecessor, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, You wished to present a fitting tribute in the name of the entire Church, which has enjoyed his pastoral ministry for the past 65 years, first as a Priest and subsequently as a Bishop in the See of München and Freising and then as Bishop of Rome mater et caput omium ecclesiarum (mother and head of the entire Church).
Holy Father, permit me too at this time to present to our beloved guest of honour the homage of his confrere Cardinals, with the words of Psalm 133 that flow from our hearts: Ecce quam bonum et guam jucundum habitare fratres in unum - Behold, how good and pleasant it is to live together in unity (Psalm 133)! Yes, at this moment, we are enjoying an atmosphere of great spiritual happiness and intense fraternity, in the common bond of service to the Holy Church of Christ.
Dear and venerable Pope emeritus, on the 29th of June of that long distant year of 1951, on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, You received presbyteral Ordination at the hands of the late Cardinal Faulhaber, together with Your dear brother Georg and 42 other companions. It was a great feast for your entire beloved Bavarian Archdiocese.
You desired to tell us about the sentiments you experienced on that day when you returned as the Successor of Peter to your beloved Archdiocese, in September 2006. While celebrating Holy Mass in the Cathedral of Freising, where your ordination took place, you relived in the presence of numerous priests who were present, the sentiments that still filled your heart. I too was present beneath the vaults of that magnificent Cathedral and remember well the emotion with which you spoke to the priests who were present.
In recent days, I re-read your Homily from that day, and I seemed to hear again the words that came at that moment from your heart. The Italian translation says: When I was here, prostrate on the floor and enveloped by the Litany of the Saints, I realized that we are not alone as we travel this road, rather the great multitude of saints walk with us, that that the saints who are still alive, including the faithful of today and tomorrow, support us and accompany us. Then there was the laying on of hands, and when Cardinal Faulhaber said: Jam non dico vos servos, sed amicos (I do not call you servants, but friends), at that moment I understood priestly ordination as an initiation into the community of the friends of Jesus, who are called to remain with Him and to proclaim his message (L'Osservatore Romano, 16 September 2006).
You then described the nature of this message that priests are called to spread throughout the world, summarizing it in two words: the priest must take the Light of God and the Love of God to the men of our times, or exactly, to use your own German words, the priest should take Gottes Licht und Gottes Liebe to all people.
In addition to your Homily, You added an urgent appeal to the priests who were present, namely an invitation to take the Light and the Love of Christ to all the world with the same feeling as Jesus, or to use your own words: Gesinnung Jesu Christi. This was the concept expressed by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians (Phil 2:5-8). This feeling that Christ had should result in a great love for those who have been distanced, toward the poor, the sick, the elderly and children.
Re-reading your words today, they seem to give us a foretaste of Pope Francis' Magesterium, which seems to invite us to reach out to those who are suffering most, sharing with them our fraternal love. This is the key to the message of the great Jubilee of Mercy that we are currently celebrating.
Venerated and dear Pope emeritus, on the happy anniversary of that day that took place 65 years ago, the College of Cardinals together with Pope Francis gathers around you to thank you for your long and generous service to the Church.
At the same time, we want to ask you to continue, although in a different form, your long ministry, as you had promised us on February 24, 2013, after having announced your decision to leave in new hands the guidance of the barque of Peter. At that time, you specifically told us: The Lord is calling me to climb the mountain, to dedicate myself even more to prayer and to meditation. But this does not mean that I am abandoning the Church, rather, if God is asking this of me, it is so that I can continue to serve with the same dedication and the same love with which I have sought to serve so far, but in a way that is more suitable for my age and my strength (Teachings of Benedict XVI, Vol. IX, page 263).
We are happy with your promise, sure that You will always be close with Your prayer and with Your affection. Finally, we say to You, in the words of a typical greeting from your Bavarian land: Behüt's Sie Gott! May God keep you!
Meanwhile, the Church of Rome, under the guidance of Pope Francis, the venerable Successor that Divine Providence has given to us, will continue with renewed vigour the journey through history, in service to the Christian community and all of humanity.
Congratulations!
Words of gratitude of His Holiness, Benedict XVI
for the celebration of his 65th Anniversary of Priestly Ordination
Holy Father,
Dear brothers,
Sixty-five years ago, a brother who was ordained with me decided to write on the prayer card presented at his first Mass, nothing except his name, the date and one word in Greek: Eucharistomen, convinced that with this word, in all its dimensions, everything that can be said in this moment has already been said. Eucharistomen relates a human thank you, thank you to all of you. Thank you above all to You, Holy Father! Your goodness, from the first moment of your election, in every moment of my life here, it strikes me, touches me within. More than the Vatican gardens, with all their beauty, your goodness is the place where I live: I feel protected. Thank you also for the words of gratitude, for everything. We hope that you will be able to continue with us along the path of Divine Mercy, showing us the way to Jesus, toward Jesus, toward God.
Thank you also to you, Your Eminence (Cardinal Sodano), for your words which have truly touched my heart: Cor ad cor loquitur - Speaking heart to heart. You brought us back to the moment of my priestly ordination, and also to my visit to Freising in 2006, when I relived that moment. I can only say that with your words, you have understood the essential of my vision of priesthood, of my work. I am grateful to you for the ties of friendship that even at until now have continued for a long time, roof to roof (referring to their homes which are located close to one another): present and tangible.
Thank you, Cardinal Müller, for the work you are doing to present my books on the priesthood, in which I try to help our confreres to enter always anew into the mystery in which the Lord gives himself into our hands.
Eucharistomen: at that time, beloved Berger wanted to place the emphasis not only on the dimension of human gratitude, but naturally on the most profound word that is hidden, that appears in the Liturgy, in Scripture, in the words gratias agens benedixit fregit deditque - Giving thanks, he blessed it, broke it and gave it. Eucharistomen reminds us of the reality of thanksgiving, of the new dimension that Christ gives to this act. He transformed gratitude, and therefore blessed the cross, suffering, all forms of evil in the world. Thus, basically he transubstantiated life and the world and gave himself, and gives himself every day in the Bread of true life, which exceeds the world thanks to the strength of His love.
Finally, I want to add ourselves to this thank you offered to the Lord, and thus truly receive the newness of life and help for the transubstantiation of the world: a world not of death but of life; a world in which love has triumphed over death.
Thank you to all of you. May the Lord bless us all.
Thank you, Holy Father.
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