Church bells tolled throughout the diocese at 9:55 a.m. Monday, Jan. 2 for five minutes in remembrance of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI after his death at age 95 on Dec. 31 in Rome.
The five minutes of solemn bell ringing at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral was followed by a Requiem Mass for the late pontiff offered by Bishop Earl Fernandes and concelebrated by 10 priests from the diocese with deacons assisting.
A congregation of more than 100 people attended the hastily arranged Mass at the cathedral that included young Catholics, parents with small children, religious sisters from several congregations and older people showing their respect for Pope Benedict.
A portrait, surrounded by poinsettias, was displayed on the west side of the main altar in memory of Benedict, who served as pope from 2005 to 2013 before he retired to a life of prayer.
In a 20-minute homily, Bishop Fernandes expanded upon the letter he penned to the diocese shortly after Pope Benedict XVI’s departure from the earth was announced early Dec. 31.
Near the beginning of his sermon, the bishop recalled his father having him and his brothers read as teenagers – and try to understand as best they could – the writings of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger from the Communio, a theological journal for Catholics.
Years later, when Bishop Fernandes was contemplating his vocation to the priesthood at a discernment house in Rome for which then-Cardinal Ratzinger served as the cardinal protector, he found himself participating in a summer hike in Austria with several other priests in a group that included the future pope.
“They were walking a path that was very tight and narrow, and it had rained the day before and looked very slippery,” Bishop Fernandes remembered. When they came to a fork, “the cardinal turned and said, ‘Which way should I go?’”
One priest said go right. The other said turn left.
“And the cardinal laughed and walked straight ahead,” Bishop Fernandes said. “This is how Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, was. He walked in the path of truth, in the light of truth.”
In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles at the Mass, Peter said, “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.”
“In Greek, this means that God won’t take a bribe, he shows no preference between the rich and the poor as such. He can’t be bought,” the bishop said.
“This is how Joseph Ratzinger lived. He was not concerned about human respect but about the truth.
“When he came out on the balcony as Pope Benedict XVI (in 2005), he spoke of himself as a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.”
Bishop Fernandes went on to note that the former pope wrote three volumes on Jesus of Nazareth, but that, despite Benedict’s great intellect, found truth in the person of Jesus Christ.
“Only in the name of Jesus is there salvation, and this is why Pope Emeritus Benedict was so dedicated to his work and to his writing to the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that he wanted to pass on the gift of truth for generations to come.”
The bishop called for the faithful to follow Benedict’s example and become co-workers for the truth, “not to care what people think of us to bear witness.”
As a young priest, Bishop Fernandes was studying in Rome at the time of Pope John Paul II’s death in April 2005 and explained the impact there of losing the saintly pontiff.
“We all wondered: How can we move forward?” Bishop Fernandes said. “And I remember the papal funeral, and somehow someone had to be the adult in the room. And it was then-Cardinal Ratzinger, who gave beautiful homilies and then helped the College of Cardinals gather themselves and to discern God’s will.”
Cardinal Ratzinger, then the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had planned to stay on in Rome to help with the transition after John Paul II’s death and then return to his native Germany to live out his days writing and praying.
During the interim before a new pope was selected, Cardinal Ratzinger spoke about the maturity that Christians must display in practicing their faith and the need to avoid being swayed in one direction or the other.
“He spoke about the dictatorship of relativism,” Bishop Fernandes shared. “And at the end of the talk St. Peter’s Basilica broke out in applause, and I began to think he might be elected, but it was just a thought.
“But this idea of a dictatorship of relativism was important because it had to do with genuine truth, and if we are all subject to the whims of this passing world, the whims of political power, then everyone must be vulnerable.
“And here we had this meek and mild man, gentle like someone’s grandfather … someone who was willing to stand up for the truth and defend it.”
And it came to pass that Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict on April 19, 2005.
“It was with much delight that he appeared on St. Peter’s balcony. There I was in St. Peter’s Square in the piazza, and I knew I would never really see him again or speak to him again, but I was happy because we had a pope.”
Benedict had spent much of his priestly life as a defender of the faith. In the 1960s, he attended the Second Vatican Council as a theological adviser and years later would be a key contributor to the Catechism of the Catholic Church that was promulgated in 1992.
“If we were to do Pope Benedict honor, it would be to take our stand with Christ so as to live with him no matter how much the cost, even if we have to suffer,” Bishop Fernandes said. “And he did suffer, not only from his enemies and his detractors, but physically.”
Benedict cited his lack of physical strength when he announced in Latin on Feb. 11, 2013, that he was resigning, becoming the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years.
“He offered his suffering for the good of the Church, and he suffered in silence,” Bishop Fernandes said.
As the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and later as pope, Benedict defended the truths of the faith even when he was called too dogmatic and countercultural.
“Rather, he would say that when the Church says no to something, we are saying yes to something else,” Bishop Fernandes said. “When we say no to abortion or attacks on human life, we say yes to the goodness of life.”
Bishop Fernandes went on to say Benedict viewed the Church as young and alive, and he encouraged young people who are sometimes afraid of Christ taking away their freedom for following Him that He will instead give them everything.
“It was his faith in Jesus Christ that allowed him to resign for the good of the Church,” the bishop said. “That takes humility and courage that comes from confidence that in Christ everything will be OK. …
“I’m sure that Joseph Ratzinger would have preferred to return to his native Germany to write his books and to live out his life in prayer. God had something else in mind. And so, he laid down his life for the good of the Church.
“He spent nearly 10 years in silent prayer. We do not know where we would be or the Church would be without his prayers.”
Bishop Fernandes mentioned Benedict XVI’s first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, which stated in the first paragraph that “being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea but the result of an encounter with an event or a person who opens up new horizons and gives our life a decisive direction.”
“Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, once said that there is no enemy but only an encounter. Now we can help him encounter God as he makes his final pilgrimage to the heavenly homeland to be his destiny.
“Christ was his life, and Christ is our life.”