“Jesus, ich liebe dich!” Jesus, I like you. These were the ultimate words that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI uttered before he died, a robust final expression of affection and faith.
The news was first reported by Elisabetta Piqué (my wife), the Rome correspondent, in La Nación, the Argentine each day, which published it online this evening.
Immediately after Benedict had died, the German Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Benedict’s private secretary, phoned Pope Francis to tell him of the previous pope’s death. Francis arrived by automotive on the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery 10 minutes later; he was the primary person to reach at Benedict’s deathbed and, once there, he imparted a final blessing to him and prayed in silence for some minutes besides his body.
These were the ultimate words that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI uttered before he died, a robust final expression of affection and faith.
He also expressed his condolences to those present: Archbishop Gänswein; the 4 consecrated women of Memores Domini—Carmela, Loredana, Cristina and Rossella, who’ve cared for Benedict since his resignation in 2013; Benedict’s German secretary, Sister Birgit Wansing, and two nurses. Francis then told Archbishop Gänswein to make the news of his death public.
This evening, Latest 12 months’s Eve, Pope Francis presided at the standard end of the yr celebration of vespers followed by the recitation of the “Te Deum,” the church’s solemn chant of thanksgiving, in St. Peter’s Basilica, which was attended by many cardinals, bishops and hundreds of pilgrims and Romans.
Speaking for the primary time for the reason that death of his predecessor, Pope Francis in his homily remembered Benedict XVI. Francis recalled his predecessor’s great kindness and witness of prayer.
“Speaking of kindness,” he said, “at this moment, my thought naturally goes to dear Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who left us this morning. We’re moved as we recall him, such a noble person, so kind. And we feel such gratitude in our hearts: gratitude to God for having given him to the Church and to the world; gratitude to him for all the nice he completed, and above all, for his witness of religion and prayer, especially in these last years of his recollected life. Only God knows the worth and the ability of his intercession, of the sacrifices he offered for the nice of the Church.”
