Mass in honor of Pope Benedict XVI – CBS Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS)– A special mass Monday morning in Chicago marked the life and legacy of Benedict XVI, the late pope emeritus, who died on Saturday at age 95.
Cardinal Blase Cupich led worshippers in song and prayer at Holy Name Cathedral. He thanked the pope emeritus for his leadership and service to the Catholic Church.
Cupich called on the faithful to learn from Benedict’s humility and dedication to scholarship. He also spoke about how Benedict used his talents to be the servant of all.
“For good reasons, many will remember him for his countless incomparable gifts and talents. He had a brilliant mind, wrote elegantly, and taught in a way that inspired his students to learn,” Cupich said.
Born Joseph Ratzinger in Germany, Benedict was required to join the Hitler Youth at age 14, and was conscripted into an anti-aircraft unit in the German army in 1943. He deserted, and was taken prisoner by the Americans.
He entered the priesthood after the war and rose to become a cardinal. In the powerful position as head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he earned the nickname “God’s Rottweiler” as a rigid enforcer of church policy.
It was a characterization he worked hard to change by being what he really was: a teacher, and one who spoke clearly and without undue theological jargon.
“Joseph Ratzinger could have remained comfortable in the world of ideas and theories, but he made himself vulnerable to the point that his encounter with Jesus, rather than the safe world of ideas, gave decisive direction to life,” Cupich said.
As pope, Benedict’s weekly audiences at the Vatican drew huge crowds, but his efforts at inter-religious dialogue sometimes fell short.
He offended many Jews by reinstating a bishop who denied the size of the Holocaust, and then stopped short of an apology on a visit to the Holocaust memorial of Yad Vashem.
“They lost their lives. But they will never lose their names,” he said.
On a trip to Africa he dismissed condoms as a way to prevent AIDS. He called gay marriage a threat to humanity, and held firm to doctrines such as no female priests.
But he also embraced modern technology. Benedict was the first pope to do a TV question-and-answer session — albeit with pre-screened questions — and he oversaw the launch of an official Vatican website and a papal Twitter account.
During a trip to the U.S. in 2008, he made a powerful symbolic visit to Ground Zero in New York.
As age began to take its toll, Benedict went to Cuba and Mexico in defiance of his doctor’s wishes, but the challenges only grew.
Critics hit out at his slow response to the decades of cover-up of the scandal of sexual abuse by priests. And then came the scandal of leaked documents that disclosed corruption and mismanagement in the Vatican.
After eight years at the top of the Church hierarchy, Benedict made the stunning announcement in a speech to the cardinals of his decision to step down.
He was succeeded by Pope Francis, while Benedict assumed the title of pope emeritus and retired to a monastery in Vatican City.
During his papacy, he initiated some of the changes that Francis would later get credit for. He began the reform of Vatican finances. And he was th
The Chicago Archdiocese also plans to hold additional memorial masses for Benedict later this week at other local churches.
Benedict shocked the world in 2013, by stepping down from leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to voluntarily resign in more than 700 years.
A naturally shy man, Pope Benedict XVI always said he had no ambitions to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. But he was chosen in 2005 to succeed Pope John Paul II. At 78, he took on the role as the oldest pope in nearly 30 years.
“I prayed to God, don’t do this to me,” he later said. “But evidently, this time, he didn’t listen.”
If you would like to see more from Monday’s mass, it is available on the Holy Name Cathedral YouTube channel.