Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI
His Holiness The Pope; Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of St Peter; Prince of the Apostles; Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church; Primate of Italy ; Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province; Sovereign of Vatican City State; Servant of the Servants of God.
Pope Benedict XVI called himself “a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.” When he was elected as the Pope on April 19, 2005 from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.
I do believe that our Pope is Mindful of His predecessor Pope John Paul the Great’s overwhelming popularity and His ability to fire up a crowd. We cannot just ask a person to follow the person who has in our mind as a role model. Most of us only know Pope John Paul II and it will be too much to expect the aged pope Benedict XVI to do the same as he did. Pope Benedict XVI is very humble and knowledgeable man. He is a great thinker and writer and no doubt a great scholar. As the teacher of the Church knows the important and need of our understanding of the Word of God. He focused more on the Scriptures than the dogmas. He invites us to “read the Bible and reread it in a personal dialogue with God.”
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will be 81 on April 16,2008(Today) was 78 years old at the time of his election and was not expected to be a globe-traveler.
Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Alois Ratzinger was born in Marktl am Inn(Passau),Germany on April 16, 1927. After his theological studies and Priestly ordination on June 29, 1951, he taught theology in the University of Monaco, Bavaria,Bonn, Munster and Tubingen Regensburg. He was a counselor to Cardinal Frings during the second Vatican Council. On March 24, 1977, Pope Paul VI named him Archbishop of Monaco and Freising, and then Cardinal at the consistory of June 27,1977.On November 25, 1981, Pope John Paul II named Cardinal Ratzinger prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and of the Pontifical International Theological Commission. Since November 30, 2002, he has been the dean of the College of Cardinals.
On April 19, 2005, the Cardinals gathered at the conclave elected him the new Pontiff, and he took the name of Benedict XVI (which means “the Blessed”) after Pope Benedict XV who was the head of the Catholic Church during the World War I and saint Benedict of Nursia the founder of the Benedictine Monasteries and he was installed on April 24, 2005.
Let me put His Holiness’ words about the coat and the motto “As an Episcopal motto I chose the words from the Third Letter of Saint John:”Collaborators with the Truth’. To follow the truth places one in its service. For around a thousand years, on the coat of arms of the bishops of the diocese of freising there has been a crowned Moor. For me this is an expression of the Universality of the Church, that knows no distinction of race or class, since we are ‘all one’ in Christ(Gal.3:28). Moreover, I chose the image of a shell, which is, above all, a sign of our being pilgrims. And finally, from the legend of Saint Corbinian, founder of the diocese of Freising, I chose the image of the bear that, after eating the saint’s mule, was made to carry his baggage all the way to Rome. This is an expression of my personal destiny, and as Psalm 72:73 says: ‘ I was like a brute beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.”
Prepared By Fr Sunny John O.Carm.