Pope Benedict’s lasting legacy

Pope Benedict’s affable smile, reflecting his authentic love for the people while witnessing the joy and gentleness of Jesus par excellence, will have a lasting impact on the Church and the people, highlighting the light and the truth of the faith as his teachings continue to be discovered.

A brilliant theologian and intellectual with a simplicity so striking, preventing him from feeling superior to any human being.

Immediately following Habemus Papam, in his address, he was quoted as saying: “The cardinals have elected me, a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord. I am consoled by the fact that the Lord can work and act even through insufficient instruments and I especially entrust myself to your prayers.”

These were the words of the “giant of faith”, when feeling so small succeeding the great Pope John Paul II. An anecdote accentuating his humanity at a general audience at the Vatican was proudly narrated by Arellano: “The pope recognised me, smiled and said: ‘Here is my shoemaker.’ It was a wonderful moment because he makes you feel important.”

Pope Benedict. Photo: AFP

His avid love for the arts was evident in his encouragement and appreciation of them. In November 2009, in an event in the Sistine Chapel, the Holy Father told artists they are the custodians of beauty; they have the opportunity to speak to the heart of humanity, participating in the work of evangelisation through their participative creation of beauty. Equally discovering beauty in music, he once described Mozart’s treatment of the Mass as “music that could only come from heaven; music in which was revealed to us the jubilation of the angels over the beauty of God”.

In August 2006, in Bressanone cathedral, answering a question on reason without beauty being a blinded reason, he said that it is when aesthetic and intellectual are united that the depth of our faith may be made manifest. Articulating the harmony between faith and reason and why they should be profoundly united, he stressed that faith presupposes reason and perfects it and reason enlightened by faith finds the strength to rise to knowledge of God and spiritual realities.

Perhaps the outstanding legacy of Pope Benedict is the book on Jesus of Nazareth through which he presented to the world a rich and compelling portrait of Jesus and His message.

To help foster the growth of a living relationship with Him, he seeks to restore Jesus’s true identity as discovered in the gospels and incite us to meet Jesus face to face.

Pope Benedict’s great love of his life was Jesus. This was most perfectly encompassed in his last profoundly simple expression: “Lord, I love you.”

A new powerful intercessor has now encountered the beauty of our Creator to be treasured eternally.

Josephine Vella – Birkirkara