Encounters with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

By The Catholic Free Press

Pope Benedict XVI touched the hearts and minds of many in the world, and not least were priests and members of the Church in the Worcester Diocese.
Some were witnesses to the beginning of his papacy in 2005, some experienced his wisdom and personal warmth during his priesthood and his papacy, while others marked his death in holy places.
Father Robert A. Grattaroti was leading a pilgrimage of parishioners from St. Joseph Parish in Charlton in Medjugorje when he learned that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had died.
While atop Apparition Mountain, where Our Lady appeared to six young visionaries, Father Grattaroti announced the sad news and led the group in prayer for the repose of the late pope’s soul.
“[Benedict] was a faithful and kind man who served the Church sacrificially over the years. Not only may he rest in peace, but may he rejoice in the glory that God has prepared for us,” said Father Grattaroti in an email from Rome when asked to comment on Benedict’s death.
On Sunday the group traveled to Rome where they had planned to tour the city and attend an audience with Pope Francis. With tens of thousands of people, they processed through St. Peter’s Basilica and prayed for Pope Benedict whose body was on view.
“I was really overwhelmed at that mountain top to receive the news from our guide who asked me to announce it. I couldn’t believe that I would be the messenger to announce [Pope Benedict’s] entry into heaven where Our Lady appeared over 40 years ago!”
Father Michael D. Hoye, a Worcester diocesan priest studying in Rome at the North American College, heard of the pope’s passing after celebrating Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
“We all prayed for the repose of his soul near Christ’s empty tomb. That evening the Franciscans of the Holy Land offered prayers for him at a Solemn Liturgy of the Hours that was scheduled for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God,” Father Hoye said.
A member of St. John, Guardian of Our Lady Parish in Clinton, Matthew Briel said he met Pope Benedict in Rome when he was known as Cardinal Ratzinger. He was struck by how gentle and soft-spoken the cardinal was.
As an undergraduate at the Angelicum, the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, in 2001 Mr. Briel said he went to Mass in German at the Teutonic College in the Vatican with a friend. After Mass his “rather pushy friend” took him to the sacristy to meet the celebrant, then Cardinal Ratzinger.
“I stumbled through some high school German and the then cardinal responded in English, asking about my studies, where I was from, etc.,” Mr. Briel said. “When I told him that I was from Minnesota he talked about all of the Lutherans there. I was floored. How did this German know about Minnesota? Then I remembered that he had given an important talk in 1984 on the nature of theology at the University of St. Thomas where my dad taught.”
And Kevin O’Brien, president of the Men of Christ Men’s conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who participated in men’s conferences in the Worcester Diocese when he lived here, recalled that he and his wife were blessed to be up front when Pope Benedict was elected.
“It was one of the most amazing experiences of our life,” he said.
“As pope, cardinal, and theologian Benedict XVI explained to the world how faith and reason live harmoniously together,” Mr. O’Brien said. 
“He helped the world, especially us Americans, understand the proper meaning of freedom,” he explained.
Quoting the late pope, Mr. O’Brien said, “Only the person who entrusts himself totally to God finds true freedom, the great, creative immensity of the freedom of good.”
“He was a tremendous gift to the Catholic Church,” Mr. O’Brien said. 
For Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, pastor of Christ the King Parish in Worcester, the late pope was “a giant of the faith” and an “extraordinary scholar and theologian.”  
He encountered the late pope concelebrating Mass in Birmingham, England, when Cardinal John Henry Newman was beatified.
Msgr. Sullivan reflected on the experience when he wrote a piece for The Catholic Free Press in 2010.
“It was a great privilege to concelebrate that Mass,” he wrote.
At the time, Msgr. Sullivan wrote that the pope faced “a torrent of media cynicism and outright denunciation.”         
Undaunted, Pope Benedict traveled to Scotland and England and Msgr. Sullivan observed, “In the end, he won the hearts of millions.”
“The visit would not have gone nearly so well had the Holy Father flinched or retreated.” But, he said, Pope Benedict exhibited integrity and warmth, engaged religious leaders from different faiths, applauded efforts for justice and met off camera with clergy sexual abuse victims.
Jesuit Father John Gavin, from the religious studies department at the College of the Holy Cross, talked about meeting Cardinal Ratzinger and then seeing him elected pope.
“In 2003, before he became pope, I concelebrated a wedding Mass with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the Chrysostom Chapel of St. Peter’s Basilica,” he said. “On that day I saw that he was a true pastor, joyous and attentive to the young couple as they made their vows. He was an outstanding scholar, but also a true shepherd and priest.
“On April 19, 2005, I was studying in the library of the Augustinianum [the Augustinian Patristic Institute in Rome] when the white smoke came forth to announce the election of Pope Benedict,” Father Gavin recalled.
“The library was across the street from St. Peter’s Square, so I arrived very quickly. I was blessed to be in the square that evening when he came to the balcony and made his humble offering before the Church and the world. We were all excited to see such a brilliant and holy man assume the Chair of St. Peter!”
There were local priests who were blessed to witness the beginning of Benedict’s papacy too.
“I was present at the Vatican in April of 2005 to witness the historic white smoke in the election of Pope Benedict XVI. I received his first public blessing as the new pope in Vatican Square,” said Father Chester J. Misiewicz, a retired diocesan priest who has a vast collection of papal material.
“I admired his leadership, but I am most impressed by the courage of his convictions and deciding to retire when he judged himself lacking sufficient strength and energy to continue. He had given us his best and decided that somebody else should take over the Church.”
Father Paul J. Tougas was with Father Misiewicz in St. Peter’s Square at the time. He recalled the thrill to be an onlooker when the newly elected pope appeared on the balcony.
According to Father Tougas, historically it is “not a good thing” to have more than one pope at a time due to the possibility of conflict, but it worked well with Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. He recalled that Pope Francis referred to his predecessor as his “grandfather.”
“It is an interesting time. I think the popes of our time are exciting popes and we may be in a Golden Age of the papacy. [St. Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis] are remarkable men … three popes who are very different.”
Regarding Pope Benedict’s decision to retire, Father Tougas said, “The question remains: Will other popes follow suit?”

– CFP Reporter Tanya Connor, Editor Margaret M. Russell and Correspondent Maria LeDoux contributed to this report.