Pope Benedict XVI, Requiescat in Pace

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (1927 – 2022) died this morning, at 95 years old, at 9:34 Rome time, in his residence at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery at the Vatican, on the vigil of the Solemnity of the Mother of God. He helped guide the Church through some of the most tumultuous times of the Church’s history, as a theologian, priest, peritus at Vatican II, bishop, cardinal, head of the CDF, as the 265th Pope, and, finally, those last, and mysterious, years as Pope emeritus. We will have more to say on the long, varied and providential life and work of Josef Ratzinger, whose influence on the Church and countless souls can scarcely be overstated.

For now, we commend his soul to God, and pray for him, now before the God he served.

Requiem æternam dona ei, Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat ei (eis). Requiescat in pace.

In a nostalgic look back in time, here is how the world welcomed Cardinal Ratzinger upon his election as Pontiff back on April 19th, 2005, at the age of 78. Much could be said on what has happened between then, and now. One wonders how the next Pope will be greeted, but all in God’s good time, as we all pilgrimage towards eternity.