St. Peter's crowded Square was filled with large joy erstwhile on April 19, 2005, at 6:40 p.m., the main log of St. Peter's Basilica was announced: "Habemus Papam" – we have the pope, "Cardinal of Joseph Ratzinger". little than an hr earlier, white smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, and the bells of Saint Peter's Basilica confirmed the choice.
In the past of the Catholic Church, he was the 265th Pope. He took Benedict's name by referring to Benedict XV's "Pope of Peace" and the patron of Europe and the founder of the Benedictine Order, St. Benedict of Nursia. He was besides the first German at this office since Viktor II (1055 – 1057).
The Reichs of Men immediately moved towards St Peter's Square. There's been quite a few communication around the Vatican. And then the recently elected Pope Benedict XVI entered the main logic of Saint Peter's Basilica, spread his hands with a grin and raised his hands up with crossed hands. – After the large Pope John Paul II, the cardinals elected me – a simple and modest individual of the Lord's vineyard – that was his first words as Pope. The short speech was repeatedly interrupted with applause and shouts "Benedetto, Benedetto" before the fresh Pope gave his first blessing Urbi et orbi.
Pope Ratzinger
On 24 April, his pontificate was inaugurated. Benedict XVI rapidly managed to leave the shadow of his predecessor. In his pontificate, he had different accents, especially in the debate on the legacy of the Second Vatican Council (1962 – 1965). In his perspective, it was not any large breakthrough, but a phase in the 2 thousand-year past of the Church. Hence efforts to reconcile with the Brotherhood of Saint Pius X Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. 1 step in this direction was to lift the regulation on the usage of the conventional Mass, which facilitated the celebration of the Holy Mass in the trident rite (in Latin in pre-sobor form before 1962) as a “extraordinary form of the liturgy of the Church”.
During the eight-year pontificate Benedict XVI made 24 abroad apostolic visits. He visited Poland on 24 and 28 May 2006. He was in Warsaw, Częstochowa, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Wadowice and Kraków, where he celebrated Mass for about 1 million faithful, and at the end of the visit he went to the site of the erstwhile German concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he paid tribute to the victims of Nazism.
He led twice the planet Youth Days, in Cologne and Sydney. At the initiative of Benedict XVI, a second interreligious gathering was held in Assisi, referring to the first specified event during the pontificate of John Paul II. The first of these was and is very powerfully criticized from the position of defenders of the tradition of the Church due to the effect of putting actual religion on the equal footing with false religions. Benedict invited representatives of various beliefs to the city of St. Francis on “The Day of Reflection, dialog and Prayer for Peace and Justice in the World” entitled “The Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of Peace”.
Benedict XVI consistently sought to clear the Church of the crimes of sexual abuse of minors. In 2010, he sent a letter to the Catholics of Ireland regarding cases of sexual abuse against minors committed by Catholic clergy in the country over the past decades. The Pope criticised the attitude of bishops who did small to eradicate this evil. He stressed that “being a priest is incompatible with sexual abuse.” Following this, he caused all Episcopal conferences to make peculiar guidelines on how to combat specified cases in local churches. At the end of the Year of Leviticus in June 2010, he apologized for the sins of sexual abuse on the part of the clergy and assured that the Church would do everything in its power to guarantee that specified sins and errors never happen again. He besides met with victims of pedophilia during his visits to the United States, Australia, Malta, Britain.
In early 2012, the “Vatileaks” scandal associated with the leak of secret Vatican papers stolen by butler Paolo Gabriele broke out.
Benedict's pontificate was rich in many crucial events. The Pope announced and led respective pastoral initiatives specified as: the Year of St Paul (2008/09), the Year of Leviticus (2009/2010) and the Year of religion (2012/2013). In addition, he established the Pontifical Council for the Serbing of the fresh Evangelization and established individual ordinaries for those Anglicans who want to go to the Catholic Church.
He was besides the author of a number of crucial documents, including encyclicals: Deus caritas est (about Christian Love, 2005), Spe salvi (about Christian hope, 2007) and Caritas in veritate (about love in truth, 2009) and the Apostolic Letter motu proprioSummorum Pontificum (2007).
Card. Ratzinger gained approval across the borders of various camps, countries and continents – as a prominent theologian who convinced people with his intellect and shy kindness. He was the first pope in 700 years to resign from office. As a reason for his resignation in early 2013, he gave a physical inability to exercise his dignity. He then lived in the Vatican for almost 10 years as a "senior pope", observing the revolutionary coup given to the Church by his successor.
Sources: KAI, PCh24.pl
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