Alessandro De Carolis – The Vatican
Castelgandolfo. February 28, 2013. Even the hands of the clocks seem alarmed by the great task that awaits them. They will have to show the time to the crowd of people and television representatives from all over the world gathered in the square near the Apostolic Palace. The clocks will strike 20:00, an hour that will lead to an unprecedented ceremony. When that time comes, a whole series of chronicles that have been imbued with powerful symbolism is culminating. Two Swiss Guards greet each other and stop at the hinges of two doors that open forward, then you hear the sound of the doors closing, countless camera flashes, you hear uncertain comments from the people. Even the Vatican flag on the central loggia of the building barely flutters against the closed shutters.
The hidden side of Mount Tabor
One has the impression of participating in a gigantic upside down “extra omnes”. A closed door that announces not the beginning of a new pontificate, but its end. The Church experiences the events of the Year of Faith, but at that time, in those days, the faith of many members of the Church was shaken. While people are still recovering from the shock, and the Church and the world are preparing for the new, Benedict XVI takes the first step towards his Mount Tabor, the still unexplored side of Peter’s threshold, in the Pope’s summer residence, while himself confirmed in the last speech before the prayer “The Angel of the Lord”:
“The Lord calls me to ‘climb the mountain’, even more, to devote myself to prayer and meditation. However, this does not mean leaving the Church, on the contrary – if God asks me, it is precisely so that I can continue to serve her with same diligence and the same love with which I have tried to do it up to now, but in a way more in keeping with my age and my strength”. (Angel of the LordFebruary 24, 2013).
Free to choose
Strength. Their unstoppable tiredness, felt for some time, led him to consider making a gesture that hadn’t been seen for millennia, and even then an exception. The “renunciation”, as the Pope Emeritus recounted years later to the journalist Peter Seewald in “The Last Conversations”, matured heart to heart talks (“in heartfelt talks”) with his Supreme Leader. He was scrupulous, persistent, tough and at the same time calm “you against you”. He had nothing to do with the external pressures, with the “Vatileaks” and the scandals that a whole new “mosaic” of haters and conspiracies has been drawing since day one of the resignation announcement. “Had it been,” says Pope Benedict, “I probably wouldn’t have left, because you don’t leave things behind when you’re under pressure.”
Father forever
Just as a father who remains weak does not cease to be a father, so not even a pope or a bishop withdraws from his “sacramental mission”. So, he doesn’t abandon him, but he remains faithful, taking a different path. In the general audience of February 27, 2013, Benedict XVI said:
“Always” also means “forever”. So, he doesn’t go back to private life. My decision to retire from active service does not cancel that service. I’m not going back to private life, a life where there are travels, meetings, receptions, conferences, etc. I do not leave the cross, but I remain with the crucified Lord in a new way. I am no longer in the position of head of the Church, but remain to serve in prayer, so to speak, in the fold of St. Peter” (General Audience, 27 February 2013).
I include everything in my prayers
These words, spoken at the last general audience, briefly express his reflections before his resignation, and prelude to all that the man who has chosen not to be a solitary but invisible island must do. pontiff. A bridge is exactly a prayer. In the silence of the “Mater Ecclesiae” – the former Vatican cloistered monastery, the residence suited to the needs of the pope emeritus – Benedict XVI’s prayer is no longer compressed into a few free spaces on the worktop, but into a large field of new freedom opened to it. If he had repeatedly stated that the world lives as if God did not exist, then in his private room the Pope Emeritus could calmly and persistently pray for it. Benedict XVI was a spiritual “presence” for Pope Francis, who since March 13 has been at the forefront of bringing a new vigor and a new style.
“I feel that in the gift that God has given me, I have to accompany everyone in prayer. I include every meeting, every trip, every pastoral visit. I gather everything and everyone in prayer to trust in the Lord; for by the use of all our spiritual wisdom and intelligence, we are fully aware of his will, and can conduct ourselves worthy of him and his love of him, bearing fruit with every good work. (General Audience, 27 February 2013).
Brothers
March 23, 2013. It is not yet midday when a white helicopter flies over Castel Gandolfo. A few more minutes and the camera captures something never experienced before. Two smiling popes embrace as they rewrite history. It is the first of a series of other similar meetings that will follow in the following years, meetings that took place in St. Peter’s Square or in the halls of the Vatican, and which bear witness to the special coexistence in the shadow of Michelangelo’s famous dome. From that moment Christmas, Easter, birthdays and special occasions become moments in which the inhabitant of St. Martha’s House travels the short distance that separates him from the one who calls, on more than one occasion, his “intelligent grandfather”.
Oasis
Parallel to the beginning of the pontificate of Francis, the “emeritus” pontificate of Benedict begins, so to speak, to move into the hiding place chosen for his future life by his master. The Vatican gardens are closed to media curiosity, becoming the silent guardians of the undisturbed existence of Pope Ratzinger. From time to time, visits from friends from different countries of the world add variety to the peaceful course of his days, which consists of reading books and press publications, a few walks, watching the news, listening to Mozart’s music after dinner. Furthermore, a rare photo posted on social media by a guest of the “Mater Ecclesiae” house opens a glimmer of the “fence” in which Benedict XVI remains anchored over the years and his physical strength slowly fades.
Protected by goodness
His voice, a little more fragile and more emotional at the time, is heard again in public after more than three years since the last time he played on February 28, 2013. It’s the 28th again, but this time it’s June and 2016. Benedict XVI solemnly commemorates the 65th anniversary of his priestly ordination. The celebration takes place in the Sala Clemente of the Vatican Palace in the presence of Francis and many cardinals. For the pope emeritus, it is an opportunity to reiterate in the loudest voice the gratitude that, as we can imagine, he has said more than once when meeting his successor in two:
“The greatest thanks to you, Holy Father! Your kindness, starting from the moment of the first election, amazes me in every moment of my life that I spend here, and it truly touches the depths of my heart. Even more than the Vatican Gardens with their beauty, your goodness is the place where I live and where I feel protected. Thank you also for the words of gratitude, for everything! And we hope that you, together with all of us, will be able to go forward on this path of Divine Mercy, showing the way of Jesus, the way to Jesus, the way to God” (Gratitude of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVIJune 28, 2016).
A world of life and love
His short speech, delivered spontaneously and standing in front of everyone, is a strong reflection on the value of the Eucharist, looking at its direct and spiritual meaning. “It is the Sacrament of ‘thanksgiving’ for the sufferings, for those endured on the cross, which Jesus transformed into a blessing for humanity,” he said. From this cross, which the humble worker of the vineyard remained faithfully beside every day of his hidden life as he crossed Peter’s threshold into the “sheepfold”, inspired his last wish for the day:
“Finally, we want to unite ourselves in this ‘thank you’ from the Lord, and thus truly receive the renewal of life, and help in transforming the world: so that it may not be a world of death, but of life; a world where love has conquered death” (Gratitude of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVIJune 28, 2016).
