Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew refers to the late Pope Benedict XVI
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, in his customary speech, in the Throne Room of the Patriarchal House, after the Divine Liturgy for the feast of the Circumcision of the Lord and the memory of Saint Basil the Great, during which he officiated on New Year’s morning at the Venerable Patriarchal Church at the Phanar, referred to the late Pope Benedict XVI.
“I would like to offer some additional words, with respect and love and gratitude, in remembrance of the recently departed Pope Benedict XVI, who, at the beginning of his Pontifical Ministry, officially visited our Ecumenical Patriarchate. Here, in this room, we signed a joint declaration. We worked together repeatedly.
The College of Bishops of the Catholic Church met a few years ago in the Vatican – in the Sistine Chapel, to be precise – and he had invited me to make the official keynote address to the Cardinals and Bishops on the subject of the Word of God. This occurred in the context of a solemn Vespers service that took place in the Sistine Chapel.
As you know, Benedict XVI was of German background. He was a great theologian. He was a university professor for a number of years. He also had Orthodox students, among them the future Archbishop Stylianos of Australia and the future Metropolitan Damaskinos of Switzerland, who stood out. I myself heard Benedict say that he got to know Orthodoxy better thanks to his Orthodox students, particularly from the aforementioned elite Orthodox theologians and Hierarchs. I pray that his memory will be eternal.
He had the fortitude and courage to resign only eight years after his election as Bishop of Rome. He could have continued because he was in good health, but he decided that he had to lay down his mandate, and this occurred around five or six hundred years after the last Pope of Rome abdicated. At his funeral, which will take place next Thursday, our Ecumenical Patriarchate will be represented by His Eminence Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon and His Eminence Metropolitan Polykarpos of Italy. May his memory be eternal.”
