Pope Francis thanked God for giving us Pope Benedict XVI in the Prologue of the posthumous publication of Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Francis assured that “the whole Church will be forever grateful to him,” in the prologue to the book entitled “God is always New” which contains the spiritual thoughts of Benedict and will be published on 14 January.
In the prologue, Pope Francis further said that, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Benedict XVI “sought ever greater insight into the mystery of Jesus that had fascinated him from his youth.”
In the text, the Holy Father explains that “the way in which Benedict XVI knew how to make heart and reason, thought and affection, rationality and emotion interact, is a fruitful model of how to speak to everyone about the disruptive force of the Gospel .”
For the Holy Father, Benedict’s ability ” to show the depth of the Christian faith always new ” shines through in the book.
“The depth of the thought of Joseph Ratzinger – continued Pope Francis -, based on Sacred Scripture and on the Fathers of the Church is a help for us today too”.
The Pontiff stressed that the book “addresses a range of spiritual themes and is an incentive for us to remain open to the horizon of eternity that Christianity carries in its DNA .”
“That of Benedict XVI is and will continue to be a fruitful thought and teaching over time, because he has known how to focus on the fundamental references of our Christian life,” he explained later.
In this sense, he cited the person, the word of Jesus Christ and the theological virtues, something for which “the whole Church will be grateful to him. Forever”.
In addition, Pope Francis recalled that “Benedict always considered beauty as a privileged means to open men to the transcendent and thus be able to meet God, which for him was the highest task and the most urgent mission of the Church.”
“ We sincerely thank God for having given us Pope Benedict XV I”, stressed Pope Francis.
“With his word and testimony, he has taught us that through reflection, thought, study, listening, dialogue and, above all, prayer, it is possible to serve the Church and do good to all humanity”, affirmed the Pope in the prologue.
Finally, he recalled that the search for “dialogue with the culture of his time has always been a burning desire of Joseph Ratzinger.”
“With his example of an intellectual rich in love and enthusiasm, which etymologically means being in God, he showed us the possibility that seeking the truth is possible, and that letting oneself be possessed by it is the highest that the human spirit can reach, “the Pope concludes.