By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

Msgr. Francis D. Kelly last week recalled how he regularly talked and dined with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who later became Pope Benedict XVI.
Msgr. Kelly, who is now a retired Worcester diocesan priest, was a collaborator with the cardinal in 1990 as a member of the Redaction Committee that worked on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The cardinal, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, chaired that committee.
“Cardinal Ratzinger would come every other day and work with us from 9 ’til 1 and then he would have dinner with us” at a retreat house in Frascati, a suburb of Rome, Msgr. Kelly recalled. “I was privileged to have dinner with him and chat with him.”
He was impressed with how the cardinal shared his knowledge with the committee.
“I experienced in those weeks his brilliance,” Msgr. Kelly said. “An issue would come up” about the Church’s teaching on a subject, and he would say something like this: “There are four or five schools of thought on this particular issue.” From memory, without referring to written works, Cardinal Ratzinger explained different ways of viewing the issue that were not heretical, and helped the committee figure out how to address it in the catechism.
“It was extraordinary!” Msgr. Kelly said. “I kept a notebook with all these reflections of his.”
He found a letter dated July 18, 1990, that Cardinal Ratzinger sent to then Worcester Bishop Timothy J. Harrington thanking him for allowing Msgr. Kelly “to participate in the role of an expert in the meeting of the Redaction Committee for the Catechism for the universal Church ... The collaboration of this priest was precious for the work of this committee.”
Msgr. Kelly said the letter “showed the kind of courtesy” Cardinal Ratzinger had.
The priest also experienced other aspects of the personality and spirituality of this cardinal who became pope.
“On the personal level, he was a very gentle, humble, unassuming kind of person,” Msgr. Kelly said.
Cardinal Ratzinger was elected pope in April 2005. Msgr. Kelly said the pope named him an apostolic visitator of Irish seminaries; in 2011 the Worcester priest became part of a team that examined priestly formation programs.
In January 2013, a month before he resigned, Benedict named Msgr. Kelly a canon of St. Peter’s Basilica. Canons celebrate Masses, preach and lead evening prayer at St. Peter’s. Pope Francis confirmed Msgr. Kelly as a canon for life.
Msgr. Kelly wasn’t surprised by the death of this humble leader, who had been failing physically. In a way, because of “our beautiful faith,” he was happy to see the retired pope relieved of longtime illness and go to “a place of peace and rest and love of the Lord.”

William Schmitt, Trivium School

Also sharing memories of the late pope, William Schmitt, headmaster of Trivium School in Lancaster, recalled his student days in Rome, at the Casa Balthasar.
The cardinal “would come by several times a year for dinner and meet with the students,” Mr. Schmitt said. “He was like a father to us and we spoke about a good number of things. For example, I remember once he described very simply how he tried to pray like St. Therese and how all of us should become children in God’s eyes.
“His humility was remarkable. His love and service for the Church have always been a great witness and ideal for me.”

Archbishop Michael W. Banach

The papal nuncio to Hungary, Archbishop Michael W. Banach, a priest of the Worcester Diocese, said he was “truly saddened to learn of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.” He explained that “the title ‘pope’ is related to the word ‘father’ and the death of any father, especially the Holy Father, leaves a void in the family.”
“I feel a special spiritual/sacramental connection to Pope Benedict XVI. I was actually in St. Peter’s Square when his election was announced. It was an impressive moment,” he recalled.
“On April 19, 2005, the faithful were running to St. Peter’s Square to catch a glimpse of the new pope. I remember thinking then how profoundly we need to be together, to feel part of the human family, part of the Church.”
 In 2007 Pope Benedict XVI appointed then Msgr. Banach as permanent representative of the Holy See to the International Organizations in Vienna.  
“Before leaving for Vienna, I was received by Pope Benedict XVI and still remember his words, ‘Your new mission will be to preach the Gospel in a very secular setting. That mission will be challenging, beautiful and absolutely necessary,’”
And then, in 2013, Pope Benedict appointed him an apostolic nuncio, which carries with it the title of archbishop. He was assigned to be the pope’s representative in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
“On February 22, 2013, the feast of the Chair of Peter, then Pope Benedict XVI appointed four new apostolic nuncios. We were among his last episcopal appointments. He specifically chose that day to highlight the Petrine mission of apostolic nuncios, in communion with the See of Peter,” Archbishop Banach told The Catholic Free Press.
 “In my meetings with him, I was always struck by his kindness, his spiritual approach and his deep knowledge of and concern for the mission of the church in the modern world,” the archbishop said.
Archbishop Banach cited a jubilee address for German bishops when then Cardinal Ratzinger said, “God never allows us to outdo him in generosity.”
“Pope Benedict XVI once remarked to his biographer, ‘We must prepare for death. We must accept the finiteness of this life and set out on the path that leads us to see the face of God.’
“Now, Joseph Ratzinger, a great theologian and cardinal, and later Bishop of Rome, rests in the home of the Father,” Archbishop Banach said.
“Now, I suspect, we will truly be able to understand better his Petrine ministry, as he prays for us, the Church he so dearly loved, and the world he saw so rapidly change. May he rest in peace,” Archbishop Banach said.
The archbishop said he looks forward to re-visiting some of the late pope’s “amazing writings.”
He asks that Pope Benedict XVI pray for him, “So that I might recognize the wonderful generosity of his love and mercy toward me.”