Pope Benedict RESIGNING

[grace-land]

https://www.ncregister.com/features/a-beautiful-glimpse-into-the-life-of-pope-benedict

A Beautiful Glimpse Into the Life of Pope Benedict
BOOK PICK: Archbishop Gänswein’s new book is both a biography of Joseph Ratzinger and partial autobiography of the papal secretary, highlighting friendship centered in Christ.
John Clark
October 24, 2023

Who Believes Is Not Alone
My Life Beside Benedict XVI
By Georg Gänswein
With Saverio Gaeta
St. Augustine’s Press, 2023
274 pages, $24
To order: staugustine.net

Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI lived a fascinating and exceptional life. Millions of faithful Catholics not only have a desire to honestly know Joseph Ratzinger better, but have legitimate wonders surrounding the events of his final decades, some of which have been largely veiled until now — until this book by Archbishop Georg Gänswein.

(The book was first published earlier this year in Italian under the somewhat more provocative main title Nient’altro che la Verità [Nothing But the Truth], but St. Augustine’s Press has translated it to English with a new title.)

In early 2003, Cardinal Ratzinger asked Msgr. Georg Gänswein to be his personal secretary. What was intended to be a temporary assignment turned out to be a 20-year position, as Gänswein faithfully served Joseph Ratzinger from 2003, through his papacy, and through his retirement until his final moment on earth on the last day of 2022.

As co-author Saverio Gaeta writes in the book’s postscript, “No one knew and supported Benedict XVI throughout the years of his pontificate and retirement more than Archbishop Georg Gänswein.”
 

[grace-land]

 
Video, with English commentary, at the link...

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-11/pope-offers-mass-for-souls-of-pope-benedict-deceased-prelates.html
Pope offers Mass for souls of Benedict XVI, deceased prelates
03 November 2023, 10:19

Pope Francis on Friday offered the Sacrifice of the Mass for the repose of Pope Benedict XVI and of Cardinals and Bishops who have died over the course of the past year.
By Christopher Wells

One day after the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, Pope Francis presided at Holy Mass in suffrage for the souls of Benedict XVI and more than 150 Cardinals, Archbishops, and Bishops who have died in the course of the past year.

In his homily, Pope Francis recalled his predecessor’s teaching that “faith is not primarily an idea to be understood or a moral precept, but a person to be encountered. That person is Jesus Christ, whose heart beats with love for us, whose eyes look with pity on our suffering.”
 

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255906/pope-francis-like-benedict-xvi-be-humble-laborers-for-the-church
Pope Francis: Like Benedict XVI, be ‘humble laborers’ for the Church
By Hannah Brockhaus
Vatican City, Nov 3, 2023 / 07:05 am

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2023/11/pope-celebrates-memorial-for-benedict-xvi-pell-and-other-departed-prelates
Pope celebrates memorial for Benedict XVI, Pell, and other departed prelates
By Elise Ann Allen
Nov 3, 2023

https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2023.index.html
Homilies 2023
Eucharistic Celebration in memory of the late Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI, and the Cardinals and Bishops deceased during the year (3 November 2023)

[grace-land]

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2023-11/ratzinger-prize-2023-goes-to-a-theologians-and-philosophers.html

Ratzinger Prize 2023 goes to two Spanish theologians and philosophers
03 November 2023, 14:07

Two Spanish professors and scholars will be honoured with the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Prize 2023 at the award ceremony on 30 November in the Vatican.
By Vatican News

The Ratzinger Prize 2023 has been awarded to the Spanish philosophers and theologians Pablo Blanco Sarto and Francesc Torralba Roselló.

Presenting to them the honour will be Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, on 30 November in the Sala Regia of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. The ceremony will begin at 5 pm Rome time and will feature reflections on the legacy of Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI - almost a year after his death.

In the morning, at 8:15 am, a special Mass will be celebrated in the Vatican Grottoes in memory of the Pope Emeritus, who passed away on 31 December 2022.

In addition, on the afternoon of 29 November, starting at 5 pm, Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University will host a study conference in English on the subject.
 

[grace-land]

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2023-11/vatican-mater-ecclesiae-monastery-contemplative-nuns-statement.html

Vatican's Mater Ecclesiae Monastery becomes home for contemplative nuns
13 November 2023, 12:07

Pope Francis asks a community of Argentinian Benedictine nuns to take up residence in the Vatican's Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, where Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI lived for around 10 years after his resignation in 2013.
By Vatican News

The Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the heart of the Vatican Gardens that was the "home" of the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, for almost ten years, is to resume its original purpose.

Pope Francis has asked that it once again serve as the residence for contemplative orders "to support the Holy Father in his daily care for the whole Church, through the ministry of prayer, adoration, praise, and reparation: a praying presence in silence and solitude."

A statement released by the Holy See Press Office on Monday, 13 November, said Pope Francis announced this decision in a handwritten letter dated 1 October of this year.
 

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255992/after-benedict-xvi-s-death-vatican-monastery-to-be-home-to-benedictine-nuns
After Benedict XVI’s death, Vatican monastery to be home to Benedictine nuns
By Hannah Brockhaus
Vatican City, Nov 13, 2023 / 07:02 am

[grace-land]

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2023-12/parolin-benedict-xvi-s-legacy-will-bear-fruit-for-the-church.html

Cardinal Parolin: Benedict XVI’s legacy will bear fruit for the Church
01 December 2023, 13:46

As Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin presents this year’s Ratzinger Prizes to theologian Pablo Blanco Sarto and philosopher Francesc Torralba, he recalls the importance of Pope Benedict XVI's thought concerning the relationship between faith and reason.
By Michele Raviart

An attitude of “flying high with the two open wings of reason and faith, albeit always with humility, effort, and perseverance”: This is the legacy, “alive and set to bear fruit in the future journey of the Church,” that Benedict XVI leaves behind a little less than a year after his death.

Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin made the remarks during the presentation of the 2023 Ratzinger Prize, the first ceremony for the Prize since the death of its namesake. Cardinal Parolin described the former Pope as “a pastor and teacher of faith” and “a luminous and courageous example of dialogue.” Pope Benedict’s Magisterium, the Cardinal said, is “characterized by an awareness of the cultural and spiritual situation of the world,” and of the tensions between peoples and between man and creation.
 

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256161/2023-ratzinger-prize-reflects-on-theological-legacy-of-late-pope-benedict-xvi
2023 Ratzinger Prize reflects on theological legacy of late Pope Benedict XVI
By Matthew Santucci
Rome Newsroom, Dec 1, 2023 / 15:20 pm

[grace-land]

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256381/vatican-to-publish-private-homilies-of-pope-benedict-xvi

Vatican to publish private homilies of Pope Benedict XVI
By Daniel Payne
CNA Staff, Dec 27, 2023 / 13:00 pm

The Vatican will publish the previously uncirculated “private” homilies of the late Pope Benedict XVI in the coming year, the Holy See has announced.

The Vatican Publishing House said Dec. 23 that it intends to release “a book of some 130 homilies given by the late Pope Benedict XVI at private Sunday Masses,” according to Catholic News Service (CNS).

The homilies comprise “30 given while [Benedict] was pope and more than 100 given to members of his household once he retired,” CNS reported.

The homilies were reportedly transcribed by members of Memores Domini, a lay association that lived with Benedict, the news service said. Four female members of the organization worked in Benedict XVI’s papal household and also moved with him to the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery after his retirement.

Neither the Vatican nor the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation, who also announced the publication of the homilies last week, gave a date for when the writings would be fully published.

The Vatican City newspaper L’Osservatore Romano and the German newspaper Die Welt published the first of the homilies earlier this month.
 

[grace-land]

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256398/benedict-trusted-francis-but-he-was-bitterly-disappointed-biographer-says-in-new-interview

‘Benedict trusted Francis. But he was bitterly disappointed,’ biographer says in new interview
By AC Wimmer
CNA Newsroom, Dec 29, 2023 / 10:57 am

On the eve of the first anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s death, his biographer, Peter Seewald, raised serious concerns about how Pope Francis is managing the legacy of his predecessor.

“Benedict trusted Francis. But he was bitterly disappointed several times,” Seewald said in an interview published Dec. 27.

Pope Francis may have written “nice letters” to his predecessor and described him as a “great pope,” Seewald told the New Daily Compass. However, in practice, he said, he has “erased much of what was precious and dear to Ratzinger.”

“If you really speak of a ‘great pope’ out of conviction, shouldn’t you do everything you can to cultivate his legacy? Just as Benedict XVI did with regard to John Paul II? As we can see today, Pope Francis has, in fact, done very little to remain in continuity with his predecessors,” Seewald said.

Instead, the South American and Jesuit pope wanted to erase much of “what was dear to Ratzinger,” according to the Benedict biographer.

‘Stabbed in the heart’

Seewald pointed to the tight restrictions against the Traditional Latin Mass by Pope Francis, reversing Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, which acknowledged the right of all priests to say Mass using the Roman Missal of 1962, which is in Latin.
 

https://newdailycompass.com/en/seewald-francis-wants-to-erase-benedict-xvis-legacy
INTERVIEW
Seewald: Francis wants to erase Benedict XVI's legacy
Gay couples, Latin Mass, sexual abuse, purging of the men most closely associated with Benedict, the appointment of Fernández: Pope Francis has done everything he could to destroy what his predecessor had built. One year after the death of Benedict XVI, his biographer and friend Peter Seewald speaks out.
Nico Spuntoni
27_12_2023

[grace-land]

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256405/ewtn-to-air-conference-on-benedict-xvi-one-year-after-his-death

EWTN to air conference on Pope Benedict XVI one year after his death
By Matthew Santucci
Rome Newsroom, Dec 29, 2023 / 16:30 pm

One year after the death of Pope Benedict XVI, scholars, experts, and friends of the late pontiff will meet in Rome on Dec. 30–31 in the Benedict XVI Hall of the Campo Santo Teutonico at the Vatican to discuss his legacy.

EWTN, the Fundatio Christiana Virtus Association, and the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation have partnered to hold the conference, which will air on EWTN throughout the day on Dec. 31 beginning at 6:30 a.m. ET (see schedule below).

Serving as moderators will be Father Vincent Twomey and Father Federico Lombardi, former director of the Holy See Press Office, who will discuss the topic “Benedict XVI, Memory and Legacy.”

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller and Matthew Bunson, EWTN vice president and editorial director, will later discuss “The Center of Benedict XVI’s Theology: Jesus Christ.”
 

[grace-land]

 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2023-12/pope-benedict-xvi-death-anniversary-federico-lombardi.html
Fr. Lombardi: Pope Benedict XVI was ‘a master and witness of faith’
30 December 2023, 17:52

One year on from Pope Benedict XVI’s death, Fr. Federico Lombardi, his former papal spokesman, reflects on the legacy and witness of faith of the late Pope.
By Federico Lombardi, SJ

A year after the departure of Pope Benedict XVI, it is right and natural to consider his legacy.

Is he a figure to be entrusted mainly to the masters of reading the past, or is he a figure who continues to challenge all of us today, precisely in these dramatic times we are living?

That he is a master of the faith, there is no doubt. We will not soon tire of rereading his "Introduction to Christianity" and his "Jesus of Nazareth" trilogy; theologians will be able to delve into his Opera Omnia for a long time, continuing to draw suggestions and guidelines for their reflection and research.

That he is also an eminent witness to life in faith - and to Christian faith in eternal life - is also entirely clear to those who have listened to him in his homilies and his spiritual magisterium, as well as to those who have been able to know him closely, following his long inner journey up to his encounter with God.

What I would now like to observe, however, is that Joseph Ratzinger continues to be a precious companion even for those who are living with participation and passion the affairs of life and human history on this earth, with all the dramatic questions that today it brings with it.
 
The last Pope who participated in the entire Council and lived it from within leaves us thus a testimony of its enduring relevance and encourages us to continue to develop its seeds and consequences without fear, reformulating the same mission of the Church in the world, engaging reason and faith to collaborate for the good and salvation of humanity and the world.

His gaze turns towards the future in hope. The service of Benedict XVI continues in the deepest movement of the Church of the Lord, led by Pope Francis and his successors.

https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/a-year-without-benedict
A Year Without Benedict
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: His words often had a way of making the vast mystery of the God-Man understandable, always presenting Jesus in his fullness, from his simple birth to his suffering, death and resurrection.
Michael Warsaw | Publisher's Note | December 30, 2023

[grace-land]

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-12/may-benedict-xvi-bless-us-and-accompany-us.html

Pope Francis: 'May Benedict XVI bless us and accompany us'
31 December 2023, 13:33

In his greetings during the Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis recalled our affection, gratitude, and admiration for Benedict XVI who died one year ago, praying that he may bless us and accompany us from Heaven.
By Tiziana Campisi and Thaddeus Jones

“A year ago, Pope Benedict XVI ended his early journey, after having lovingly and wisely served the Church. We feel so much affection, gratitude and admiration for him. May he bless us and accompany us from Heaven. A round of applause for Benedict XVI!”

Pope Francis offered those words at the Sunday Angelus when remembering Pope Benedict XVI,  the 265th Pope, who died one year ago on this day of 31 December in 2022.

A Mass of suffrage was celebrated earlier in the morning at the Vatican, in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Altar of the Chair. Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Joseph Ratzinger's secretary from 2003 until the final days of his life, presided over the celebration. In his homily, Archbishop Gänswein described Benedict XVI's "shining example," and he expressed gratitude to God "for the gift of his life, the richness of his magisterium, the depth of his theology" of this "'simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.'"

Homily of Archbishop Ganswein

In his homily, Archbishop Ganswein recalled how just one year ago Benedict XVI called "Christmas, the most beautiful day of the year!" with a sense of wonder and celebrated with deep faith, joy and prayer. "Today, the Feast of the Holy Family marks the first anniversary of his return to the Father's house, where - as we hope and pray - he may forever contemplate the great mystery of Christmas."
 

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256387/4-kernels-of-wisdom-from-pope-benedict-xvi-s-last-message-to-the-world
4 kernels of wisdom from Pope Benedict XVI’s last message to the world
By Isabel Barry
Chicago, Ill., Dec 31, 2023 / 08:00 am

[grace-land]

https://www.wral.com/story/pope-recalls-benedict-xvis-love-and-wisdom-on-anniversary-of-death-as-secretary-reflects-on-legacy/21216229/

Pope recalls Benedict XVI's love and wisdom on anniversary of death, as secretary reflects on legacy
Posted 11:00 a.m. Today - Updated 10:58 a.m. Today

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Tributes were paid Sunday on the first anniversary of the death of Pope Benedict XVI, with Pope Francis praising his love and wisdom and Benedict's private secretary expressing hope he might one day be declared a saint.

Benedict, the first pope to retire in six centuries, died last Dec. 31 at the age of 95 in the Vatican monastery where he spent 10 years as a pope emeritus. He is buried in the grottoes underneath St. Peter’s Basilica.

Speaking at the end of his weekly noon blessing, Francis said the faithful feel “so much love, so much gratitude, so much admiration” for Benedict. He praised the “love and wisdom” with which Benedict guided the church and asked for a round of applause from the pilgrims and tourists gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

Earlier in the day, Benedict's longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, celebrated a special Mass in the basilica and then participated in an anniversary event to reflect on Benedict’s legacy.

Speaking on the sidelines, Gaenswein acknowledged some of the polemics that surrounded Benedict's decade-long retirement alongside Francis in the Vatican, but said they would be forgotten in favor of the substance of his ministry and his final words: “Lord, I love you.”

History, Gaenswein said, would judge Benedict as a “great theologian, a very simple person and a man of deep faith.”
 

Video at the limk below--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLFouWsIC6M
From the Vatican | Holy Mass for Pope Benedict XVI on the First Anniversary of His Passing | 2023
EWTN

[grace-land]

Video at the link...

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/benedict-would-have-banned-same-sex-blessings-aide-says-anniversary-2023-12-31/
Benedict would have banned same-sex blessings, aide says on anniversary
By Philip Pullella
December 31, 20231:54 PM CST Updated 35 min ago

VATICAN CITY, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The Vatican marked the first anniversary on Sunday of the death of Pope Benedict XVI, with one of his closest aides saying he never would have approved a recent declaration allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples.

Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, who was the Church's doctrinal chief under Benedict, and Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, who was Benedict's private secretary, both German, were two headliners at an event marking the anniversary and organised by the conservative U.S.-based Catholic television network EWTN.

"It never would have happened (under Benedict) because it was so ambiguous," Mueller said on the sidelines of the event when asked by Reuters about the landmark declaration issued on Dec. 18.
 

[grace-land]

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256417/conference-on-pope-benedict-s-death-legacy-defined-by-love-of-christ-the-eucharist

Conference on anniversary of Benedict’s death focuses on legacy defined by love of Christ
By Matthew Santucci
Rome Newsroom, Jan 2, 2024 / 11:48 am

Archbishop Georg Gänswein celebrates a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 31, 2023, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the death of Pope Benedict XVI. | Credit: Vatican Media

Friends, scholars, and former colleagues of Pope Benedict XVI gathered in the Campo Santo Teutonico in Vatican City from Dec. 30–31 for a two-day conference to reflect on the late pope’s life and rich theological legacy on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of his death.

Touching upon a wide range of themes, from his early life to his extensive theological corpus that covered the virtues of hope and love, the liturgy, and the life of Christ, the common thread uniting his work and life was a deep Christocentrism, which was made tangible in the Eucharist.

“When he spoke his final words ‘Lord, I love Thee’ at the end of his life, he said it all. He was expressing the fact that this love is stronger than death and that he remained in this love even in the moment of death,” Father Ralph Weimann said to the attendees gathered together for his lecture titled “Death and Eternal Life — Benedict XVI.”
 

[grace-land]

Videos at the link...

https://www.ncregister.com/news/benedict-xvi-friends-and-scholars-recall-his-life-legacy-and-teaching
Benedict XVI: Friends and Scholars Recall His Life, Legacy and Teaching

His friendship with Christ, love for truth, and ‘remarkable’ ability to communicate were just some of the late pontiff’s qualities remembered at a two-day Rome conference on the first anniversary of his death.
Edward Pentin Vatican January 2, 2024

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy “will last, bear fruit and nourish the spiritual lives of many, many people, especially the young,” his former personal secretary has predicted.

Speaking to the Register on the sidelines of a Rome conference celebrating Joseph Ratzinger’s life and pontificate one year after his death, Archbishop Georg Gänswein said, “The legacy of Pope Benedict will be discovered, it will emerge, because Benedict was not just a very real and truthful person, nor someone who tried to draw attention to himself, but because he was someone who tried to serve God, love the people of the Church, and love the truth.”

“That was, for him, a great and very important mission of his life and his theology, both as cardinal and as Pope,” Archbishop Gänswein added.

The Dec. 30-31 conference, co-hosted by EWTN, the Fundatio Christiana Virtus, and the Vatican Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI foundation, examined the “life, teaching and legacy” of the late pope, drawing on scholars, experts, some of his friends. It took place at the Campo Santo Teutonico within the Vatican walls.
 

[grace-land]

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2024/01/benedicts-top-aide-says-gay-lobby-vatican-bank-had-nothing-to-do-with-resignation

Benedict’s top aide says ‘gay lobby,’ Vatican bank had nothing to do with resignation
By Elise Ann Allen
Jan 9, 2024

ROME – Pope Benedict XVI’s longtime private secretary, German Archbishop Georg Gänswein, spent the Feast of the Epiphany at a small parish in northern Italy, telling parishioners that Benedict was a man of prayer and debunking conspiracies behind his historic resignation.

Speaking to churchgoers at Sacred Heart Parish in Carnovali, Bergamo, on the Jan. 6 feast of the Epiphany, Gänswein described the late pontiff, who died on Dec. 31 of last year at the age of 94, as someone “whose vocation was that of a university professor and not an ecclesiastical career.”

“He was not born to exercise power,” Gänswein said, but insisted that once elected and faced with troubling issues in the church such as the pedophilia scandals, “He had a strong sense of responsibility: already as cardinal he saw that the big problem of the Church were not the persecutions or attacks from outside, but the filth that was produced inside.”

Awareness of this “cost him a lot,” Gänswein said, saying, “We never saw him cry because he was very controlled and dominated his emotions, but he suffered.”
 

[grace-land]

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257247/pope-francis-i-was-used-against-ratzinger-in-2005-conclave-but-he-was-my-candidate

Pope Francis: I was ‘used’ against Ratzinger in 2005 conclave, but he was ‘my candidate’
By Jonathan Liedl
CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2024 / 13:30 pm

Pope Francis said he was “used” in the 2005 conclave in an effort to block the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, though he supported the candidacy of the man who soon became Pope Benedict XVI.

“He was my candidate,” Francis said of his predecessor in excerpts from the forthcoming book “The Successor,” published by the Spanish newspaper ABC on Easter Sunday. 

In the book, Pope Francis told Spanish journalist Javier Martínez-Brocal that his name, then-Cardinal Jose Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, was put forward as part of a “complete maneuver” by an unnamed group of cardinals to manipulate the conclave’s outcome.
 

Article from 2015...

https://www.ncregister.com/news/still-controversial-cardinal-danneels-and-the-conclave-of-2005-9bx1q46a
Still Controversial: Cardinal Danneels and the Conclave of 2005
German journalist Paul Badde recounts the actions of the Belgian cardinal — whose participation in the recent family synod drew criticism — at the time of Pope Benedict XVI’s election.
Edward Pentin | News | November 5, 2015

[grace-land]

Excerpts from new book interview with Pope Francis: The Successor: My Memories of Benedict XVI

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2024-04/pope-francis-pope-benedict-relationship-predecessor.html
Pope Francis remembers Benedict XVI in new book: 'He was like a father to me'
02 April 2024, 11:06

In a new book interview, Pope Francis discusses his relationship with his predecessor Benedict XVI: 'He always defended me, he never interfered'.
By Vatican News

"Benedict was a man of great gentleness. In some cases, people took advantage of him, perhaps without malice, and limited his movements. Unfortunately, in a certain sense, they were encircling him. He was a very delicate man, but he was not weak: he was strong. But he was humble, and preferred not to impose. So he suffered a lot."

That’s how Pope Francis remembers his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, in a new interview book with journalist Javier Martínez-Brocal ("The Successor"), which will be released on Wednesday, April 3.
 

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2024/04/francis-praises-benedict-but-tweaks-ganswein-calls-sarah-bitter-in-new-book
Francis praises Benedict but chides Gänswein, calls Sarah ‘bitter’ in new book
By Elise Ann Allen
Apr 2, 2024

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2024/04/02/pope-francis-benedict-ganswein-interview-book-247617
Pope Francis opens up about Benedict XVI, past conclaves and more in new book
Gerard O’Connell
April 02, 2024

[grace-land]

https://www.ncregister.com/news/archbishop-ganswein-pope-benedict-xvi-interview-ewtn-vatican

Archbishop Gänswein Shares Stories of Pope Benedict XVI: Faith, Music, and Marian Devotion

‘Just looking into his eyes was enough to see the gentleness there — a clear and resolute gentleness, which can sometimes be firmer than marble.’
Andreas Thonhauser | Vatican | July 17, 2024

Pope Benedict XVI was born only 10 miles from a Marian shrine that has shaped the faith in Germany’s southern region Bavaria for centuries.

For the late German Pope, the city of Altötting was formative. Here, the first Benedict Forum took place from July 12 to 14. One of the highlights was a very personal conversation with Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Benedict’s private secretary, who accompanied him for almost two decades.

EWTN News’ Vatican Bureau’s Andreas Thonhauser interviewed the former prefect of the Papal House in German for an hour in front of hundreds of faithful, who had come to celebrate the legacy of Pope Benedict XVI. They learned about his favorite saints, his prayer life, his devotion to Mary, and how he felt about being accused during the German abuse scandals.
 

[grace-land]

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/259399/japanese-sculptor-notre-dame-s-o-grath-to-receive-prestigious-ratzinger-prize

Japanese sculptor, Notre Dame’s O’Regan to receive prestigious Ratzinger Prize
By Almudena Martínez-Bordiú
Madrid, Spain, Sep 20, 2024 / 08:00 am

For the first time, a sculptor and native of Japan will be awarded the Ratzinger Prize.

His name is Etsurō Sotoo, born in 1953 in Fukuoka, Japan, and a graduate of Kyoto University.

A 1978 visit to Spain changed the course of his life forever.

Arriving in the city of Barcelona, he was impressed by the construction of the Sagrada Familia basilica and asked to work there as a sculptor.

Following instructions left by Antoni Gaudí, the renowned Spanish architect of the monument, still under construction, Sotoo began his work on the basilica’s Nativity façade.

During his stay in Barcelona, ​Sotoo converted to Catholicism and received the sacrament of baptism.
 
Nov. 22 award ceremony and Mass

On Friday, Nov. 22, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state of the Holy See, is scheduled to present the prize to both O’Regan and Sotoo.

The ceremony will take place in the Sala Regia of the Apostolic Palace. That same morning, a Mass will be celebrated in memory of Pope Benedict XVI at his tomb in the Vatican Grottoes. The two winners will be received by Pope Francis.
 

[grace-land]

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-11/ratzinger-prize-2024-parolin-lombardi-o-regan-sotoo.html

Ratzinger Prize honours legacy of a 'Master of hope in dark times'
22 November 2024, 19:40

Cardinal Pietro Parolin addresses guests and awardees at the award-giving ceremony of the 2024 Ratzinger Prize and recalls Benedict XVI’s legacy that encourages us to face the challenges of our time with faith and hope.
By Vatican News

On November 22, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, highlighted the enduring legacy of Pope Benedict XVI's work and witness during the 2024 Ratzinger Prize-giving ceremony in the Sala Regia of the Apostolic Palace.

This year’s recipients are Irish theologian Cyril O’Regan and Japanese sculptor Etsurō Sotoo.