The spiritual testament of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI underlined “the reasonableness of faith”. The Spiritual Testament of the late Pope was published on Saturday by the Vatican.
“What I said before to my countrymen, I say now to all those in the Church who have been entrusted to my service: Stand firm in the faith! Do not let yourselves be confused,” the late Benedict XVI wrote.
“Jesus Christ is truly the way, the truth, and the life — and the Church, with all its insufficiencies, is truly his body,” Benedict XVI said.
The pope, who died on 31 December at the age of 95, went on to live 16 years after writing the testament.
In the short text, Benedict XVI expressed gratitude to God, his family, and his friends who accompanied him through his life and asked for forgiveness from “all those whom I have wronged in any way.”
“If in this late hour of my life I look back at the decades I have gone through, first I see how many reasons I have to give thanks. First and foremost I thank God himself, the giver of every good gift, who gave me life and guided me through various moments of confusion; always picking me up whenever I began to slip and always giving me again the light of his face,” he wrote.
“In retrospect I see and understand that even the dark and tiring stretches of this journey were for my salvation and that it was in them that he guided me well.”
The funeral for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on 5 January and “will be carried out under the sign of simplicity” in keeping with Benedict’s wishes, according to the Vatican’s spokesman. He will be buried in the crypt under St. Peter’s Basilica.