Archbishop Antoine Hérouard of Dijon recalls Benedict XVI’s visit to France in 2008

Étienne Pépin: You may have caught his eye. What do you remember about his eyes? They say they got very close…

Archbishop Antoine Hérouard: He was a very attentive person to his interlocutors, both in private and on the occasion of a party. He had a look marked by kindness, precision, attention paid to the person in front of him. I remember mass at the Esplanade des Invalides: there were so many people, a wonderful fervor, a deep joy of the people to be there. The pope was moved by this crowd, perhaps even surprised. I don’t think anyone around him was warned that there would be this fervor and joy, like the interiority that manifested itself during the celebration. Benedict XVI profoundly expressed the joy of being reunited with the faithful and of being able to celebrate the Eucharist together.

To what extent did Benedict XVI’s visit to France in 2008 have a spiritual impact on our country, which claims to be secular?

It didn’t affect everyone, of course. But I think that for Catholics in France it was an important moment, because the pope has truly come to confirm us in the faith. After all, Benedict XVI’s messages are often simple. He reaffirms the essential of faith: trust in God, attachment to Christ. He specifies the need for interiority and depth in the life of faith. He repeated it in Paris and Lourdes. In this, he has enabled the Catholics of France to rediscover a certain strength and depth in their approach to faith. He encouraged us, his visit was extremely beneficial.

Pastor of the Catholic Church and immense theologian, Pope Benedict XVI has come to inaugurate the Collège des Bernardins, a center of culture and faith in France. In front of an audience of scholars he had delivered a memorable speech on European monasticism. What do you remember as a priest and as a bishop today?

I think this speech to the Bernardines deserves to be re-read. The texts of Benedict XVI are extremely well constructed, chiseled, with great precision in the vocabulary. It seems to me that the themes he addressed were the main themes of his pontificate, on the importance of inscribing our Christian life today in a history, a tradition, a transmission through the generations. From this point of view, the history of the place of the Collège des Bernardins is significant, since his intervention dealt with the sign of the presence of God among us.

I think this is always the message that Benedict XVI wanted to convey to our Europe. The choice of the name of Benoît, one of the first patrons of Europe, is also significant here. For him, Europe is deeply marked by Christian roots: he invites Christians in Europe today to rediscover and live these roots.