CNA Newsroom, Dec 31, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Cardinal Kurt Koch celebrated a pontifical Mass at the tomb of Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, marking the second anniversary of the pope emeritus’ death.
The pope from Bavaria, who died on Dec. 31, 2022, is buried just meters away from the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles in the Vatican grottos.
In his homily, which coincided with the liturgical reading of the prologue of John’s Gospel, Koch reflected on Benedict’s lifelong dedication to exploring the meaning of the Logos — the Word of God.
“In this hymn of praise to the Logos, to the Word that was with God and was God, the innermost core of the Christian faith is condensed,” Koch said during the Mass, which was streamed live by EWTN Germany.
“Joseph Ratzinger — Benedict XVI — reflected on this throughout his life and revealed it to us.”
The Swiss cardinal, who serves as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, emphasized that Benedict XVI’s primary concern was making God accessible to modern people at a time when many find God foreign or superfluous.
“For the faithful theologian on the chair of Peter, there could be no greater priority than to show people today an access to God, his truth and beauty,” Koch said.
He noted that Benedict XVI entered fully into the mystery of Easter on the day of his “second birth” during Christmas, which had always held special significance for him. The pope emeritus died at 9:34 a.m. in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, where he had lived since his historic resignation in 2013.
Benedict XVI’s pontificate lasted from 2005 to 2013, ending with the first papal resignation in nearly 600 years.
Even before his election as pope, he had profoundly influenced the worldwide Church, first as a young theologian at the Second Vatican Council and later as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The Mass concluded with prayers at Benedict XVI’s tomb, where Koch paused for a moment of silent prayer.
This article was first published by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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Benedict’s focus on the Word who was with God and is God brings home the difficult to understand, because of its depth, that the Word made flesh, the Son who suffered at the hands of those who he came to save was God.
Cdl Koch perceived the faith condensed in this revealed truth. And is it not true what differentiates our Christian faith from all other religions is the revelation of God in God the Son, that makes what is difficult and incomprehensible comprehensible to the human intellect precisely because this Word was God.
Further amazement is that the almighty God who creates and keeps all beings in existence should diminish his greatness becoming subject to his own human weakness, vulnerability, and human cruelty. That the hidden Word made flesh offers to suffer disdain to the point of condemnation and death. There is no religion that corresponds. Greek Promethean mythology has a god who steals fire to give to mankind and save man from annihilation by Zeus. Whereas we are saved by incorporation in the Word’s mystical body.
By his gift of faith. By consumption of the body and blood of the God made flesh we are saved. A bond of love with the God whose essence is love. By his suffering and death we gain life. Raised up to the cross he draws all men to himself. God dies for love of us. Rises from death confirming that love.
In the mystery of the Incarnation God becomes man. The Word the son of man. Jesus is not two persons, one divine one human. Although his death occurs through his human nature, the divine lives forever. The incarnation is a great mystery because Jesus is one person, a divine person, the second person of the Trinity. We’ll never fully comprehend this mystery.
It is precisely this doctrine of the Incarnation, and the associated doctrine Blessed Trinity, that was denied by silence at Bergoglio’s Abdu Dhabi submission to the demon Allah.
The question remains: was Bergoglio’s submission personal or did he thrust the entire Church militant in communion with himself into Apostasy.