Pope Benedict XVI – part 2

The best photo I took of Pope Benedict when in Malta in 2010

Pope Benedict visited Malta in April 2010, and since my mother was dying at that time, I spent close to two months here in Malta, and I was able to concelebrate with Pope Benedict at the Mass in Floriana on April 18, and that’s where I took these wonderful photos of him. My mother died a week later and the last thing she saw were these photos on the small screen of my digital camera. He would resign officially on February 28, 2013. He claimed that he was resigning because of mental and physical shortcomings, and spent the last 10 years living in solitude at the monastery at the Vatican Gardens.

His private secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein  said this about the human aspect of Pope Benedict: “I spent all the years of his pontificate as secretary by his side, and then, of course, also during his time as pope emeritus. He had been longer a pope emeritus than a reigning pope. What always impressed, and even surprised, me was his gentleness; how serene and good-tempered he was, even in situations that were very exhausting, very demanding — and, at times, even very sad, from a human point of view. He never lost his composure; he never lost his temper. On the contrary: The more he was challenged, the quieter and poorer in words he became. But this had very good and benevolent effects on those around him. He was, however, not at all used to large crowds. Of course, as a professor, he was used to speaking in front of a large, even a very large, audience of students. But that was him as a professor speaking to students. Later, as pope, all these encounters with people from different countries, their joy and enthusiasm, were, of course, a very different experience.”

The Pope walks towards the altar to start Mass on April 18, 2010

The last words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as he lay on his deathbed were “Lord, I love you!” (spoken in Italian) according to Gänswein. He will be buried in the crypt of the Vatican, close to the tomb of St. Peter, and in the same place where Pope St. John Paul II was buried, before he was exhumed for his canonization. Pope Benedict was a lover of cats, and some even called him a true Cat-Holic. He had various cats over his life, among them, those named Chico, Pushkin, Contessina and Zorro. He would always stop to stroke any cat he would see, and had a special place in the Vatican Gardens where cats roamed around freely. He was also a lover of music, and played the piano, with Mozart’s music being especially close to his heart.