"Eight years after" April 19, 2005 "I
can say that the Lord really has guided me. He has been close to me:
daily could I feel His presence. [These years] have been a stretch of
the Church's pilgrim way, which has seen moments joy and light, but also
difficult moments", now " I will not abandon the cross, but remain in a
new way near to the Crucified Lord" and "I will continue to accompany
the journey of the Church with prayer and reflection "," I feel, that I
am carrying you all in prayer."
"The last General Audience" by Benedict XVI. He says it himself in a
meeting dedicated to "thanking God above all", reaffirming total trust
in him, and love for the Church always put before his personal good and
finally to praying, even for the Cardinals called to task of choosing
the next successor of Peter and for the next pope.
Under a completely cloudless sky, 150 thousand people fill St Peter's
Square. Pope Benedict's extended tour of St. Peter's lasted a quarter
of an hour. The people applauded; some were unable to hold back the
tears. Waving the flags of the world, predominantly those of Germany,
Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Argentina, USA,
Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Senegal, Croatia, Slovenia, Nigeria, Vietnam.
There is also one, solitary, Chinese flag.
It's the 348th general audience of his pontificate, according to
figures of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, until last week a
total 5,116,600 people had taken part. "Here for you", "Your words
light forever," "Thank you", "Thanks Benedict," "Danke", "We'll miss
you," read on many banners.
On the raised dias in front of the facade, dozens of cardinals. They are now arriving in Rome ahead Conclave.
"Thank you - his first words - Thank you for coming in such large
numbers to this last General Audience of my pontificate. Like the
Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have heard, I feel in my heart
the paramount duty to thank God, who guides the Church and makes her
grow: who sows His Word and thus nourishes the faith in His people. At
this moment my spirit reaches out to embrace the whole Church throughout
the world, and I thank God for the "news" that in these years of
Petrine ministry I have been able to receive regarding the faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity that circulates in the body of the
Church - charity that makes the Church to live in love - and of the hope
that opens for us the way towards the fullness of life, and directs us
towards the heavenly homeland." The crowd applauds, at every pause.
"I feel I [ought to] carry everyone in prayer, in a present that is
God's, where I recall every meeting, every voyage, every pastoral visit.
I gather everyone and every thing in prayerful recollection, in order
to entrust them to the Lord: in order that we might have full knowledge
of His will, with every wisdom and spiritual understanding, and in order
that we might comport ourselves in a manner that is worthy of Him, of
His, bearing fruit in every good work (cf. Col 1:9-10). At this time, I
have within myself a great trust [in God], because I know - all of us
know - that the Gospel's word of truth is the strength of the Church: it
is her life. The Gospel purifies and renews: it bears fruit wherever
the community of believers hears and welcomes the grace of God in truth
and lives in charity. This is my faith, this is my joy".
Benedict XVI is back then at the beginning of his pontificate, April
19, almost eight years ago. "I held steadfast in this certainty, which
has always accompanied me. In that moment, as I have already stated
several times, the words that resounded in my heart were: "Lord, what do
you ask of me? It a great weight that You place on my shoulders, but,
if You ask me, at your word I will throw out the nets, sure that you
will guide me" - and the Lord really has guided me. He has been close to
me: daily could I feel His presence. [These years] have been a stretch
of the Church's pilgrim way, which has seen moments joy and light, but
also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter with the Apostles in
the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has given us many days of
sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the catch has been abundant;
[then] there have been times when the seas were rough and the wind
against us, as in the whole history of the Church it has ever been - and
the Lord seemed to sleep. Nevertheless, I always knew that the Lord is
in the barque, that the barque of the Church is not mine, not ours, but
His - and He shall not let her sink. It is He, who steers her: to be
sure, he does so also through men of His choosing, for He desired that
it be so. This was and is a certainty that nothing can tarnish. It is
for this reason, that today my heart is filled with gratitude to God,
for never did He leave me or the Church without His consolation, His
light, His love".
"We are in the Year of Faith, which I desired in order to strengthen
our own faith in God in a context that seems to push faith more and more
toward the margins of life. I would like to invite everyone to renew
firm trust in the Lord. I would like that we all, entrust ourselves as
children to the arms of God, and rest assured that those arms support us
and us to walk every day, even in times of struggle. I would like
everyone to feel loved by the God who gave His Son for us and showed us
His boundless love. I want everyone to feel the joy of being Christian.
In a beautiful prayer to be recited daily in the morning says, "I adore
you, my God, I love you with all my heart. I thank You for having
created me, for having made me a Christian." Yes, we are happy for the
gift of faith: it is the most precious good, that no one can take from
us! Let us thank God for this every day, with prayer and with a coherent
Christian life. God loves us, but He also expects that we love Him!"
"At this time, however, it is not only God, whom I desire to thank. A
Pope is not alone in guiding St. Peter's barque, even if it is his
first responsibility - and I have not ever felt myself alone in bearing
either the joys or the weight of the Petrine ministry. The Lord has
placed next to me many people, who, with generosity and love for God and
the Church, have helped me and been close to me. First of all you, dear
Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your counsels, your friendship, were
all precious to me. My collaborators, starting with my Secretary of
State, who accompanied me faithfully over the years, the Secretariat of
State and the whole Roman Curia, as well as all those who, in various
areas, give their service to the Holy See: the many faces which never
emerge, but remain in the background, in silence, in their daily
commitment, with a spirit of faith and humility. They have been for me a
sure and reliable support. A special thought [goes] to the Church of
Rome, my diocese! I can not forget the Brothers in the Episcopate and in
the Priesthood, the consecrated persons and the entire People of God:
in pastoral visits, in public encounters, at Audiences, in traveling, I
have always received great care and deep affection; I also loved each
and every one, without exception, with that pastoral charity which is
the heart of every shepherd, especially the Bishop of Rome, the
Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I carried each of you in my
prayers, with the father's heart".
Benedict XVI continued: "I wish my greetings and my thanks reach
everyone: the heart of a Pope expands to [embrace] the whole world. I
would like to express my gratitude to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to
the Holy See, which makes present the great family of nations. Here I
also think of all those who work for good communication, whom I thank
for their important service".
Benedict XVI then thanked "offer heartfelt thanks to all the many
people throughout the whole world, who, in recent weeks have sent me
moving tokens of concern, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never
alone: now I experience this [truth] again in a way so great as to touch
my very heart. The Pope belongs to everyone, and so many people feel
very close to him. It's true that I receive letters from the world's
greatest figures - from the Heads of State, religious leaders,
representatives of the world of culture and so on. I also receive many
letters from ordinary people who write to me simply from their heart and
let me feel their affection, which is born of our being together in
Christ Jesus, in the Church. These people do not write me as one might
write, for example, to a prince or a great figure one does not know.
They write as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense
of very affectionate family ties. Here, one can touch what the Church is
- not an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian
purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the
Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us all. To experience the Church in
this way and almost be able to touch with one's hands the power of His
truth and His love, is a source of joy, in a time in which many speak of
its decline, but we can see how the Church is alive today. "
"In recent months - has reiterated - I felt that my strength had
decreased, and I asked God with insistence in prayer to enlighten me
with His light to make me take the right decision - not for my sake, but
for the good of the Church. I have taken this step in full awareness of
its severity and also its novelty, but with a deep peace of mind.
Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult,
trying choices, having ever before oneself the good of the Church and
not one's own".
"Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005. The gravity of
the decision was precisely in the fact that from that moment on I was
committed always and forever by the Lord. Always - he, who assumes the
Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs always and
totally to everyone, to the whole Church. His life is, so to speak,
totally deprived of the private sphere. I have felt, and I feel even in
this very moment, that one receives one's life precisely when he offers
it as a gift. I said before that many people who love the Lord also love
the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the Pope has
truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the world, and
that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because he no
longer belongs to himself, but he belongs to all and all are truly his
own. The "always" is also a "forever" - there is no returning to private
life. My decision to forgo the exercise of active ministry, does not
revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a life of travel,
meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I do not abandon the cross,
but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord. I no longer wield
the power of the office for the government of the Church, but in the
service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St. Peter's bounds. St.
Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, shall be a great example in this
for me. He showed us the way to a life which, active or passive, belongs
wholly to the work of God".
"I thank each and every one - he continued - for the respect and
understanding with which you have welcomed this important decision. I
continue to accompany the Church on her way through prayer and
reflection, with the dedication to the Lord and to His Bride, which I
have hitherto tried to live daily and that I would live forever. I ask
you to remember me before God, and above all to pray for the Cardinals,
who are called to so important a task, and for the new Successor of
Peter, that the Lord might accompany him with the light and the power of
His Spirit. Let us invoke the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of
God and of the Church, that she might accompany each of us and the whole
ecclesial community: to her we entrust ourselves, with deep trust".
"God - he concluded - God guides His Church, maintains her always,
and especially in difficult times. Let us never lose this vision of
faith, which is the only true vision of the way of the Church and the
world. In our heart, in the heart of each of you, let there be always
the joyous certainty that the Lord is near, that He does not abandon us,
that He is near to us and that He surrounds us with His love. Thank
you. "