VATICAN - At the conclusion of his Spiritual Exercises, the Pope expresses gratitude to Cardinal Vanhoye: “you have allowed us to listen to the Lord’s voice and in this way, helped us to learn again what His and our priesthood is.”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - At 9 am, on Saturday, February 16, Spiritual Exercises in the presence of the Holy Father Benedict XVI came to an end, in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel in the Vatican. Following the final meditation, the Pope offered words of gratitude to Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, SJ, Secretary for the Pontifical Biblical Commission and preacher of the meditations for the exercises, as well as to all the members of the Roman Curia who have participated in the exercises. The Pope said, “I always had present before my eyes the image of Christ kneeling down before St. Peter to wash his feet. Through your meditations, this image spoke to me. I saw that precisely here, in this conduct, in this act of extreme humility, the new priesthood of Jesus is realised. And it is realised precisely in the act of solidarity with us, with our weakness, our suffering, our trials, even death.”
Thus, the figure of St. Peter, who asks the Lord to wash “not only my feet, but my head and hands,” reveals, the Holy Father said, “the difficulty that St. Peter and that all of the other disciples of the Lord have in understanding the new and surprising characteristic of Jesus’ priesthood, this priesthood that is lowering of Himself, solidarity with us, and therefore, opening to us the true sanctuary, the risen Body of Jesus. In his entire time as disciple and even until his crucifixion, I believe, St. Peter must have been constantly listening to Jesus, in order to enter more deeply into the mystery of his own priesthood, that priesthood of Christ communicated to the apostles and to their successors. In this way, the figure of Peter was for me a figure of all of us during these days.”
Benedict XVI concluded his brief address, directing these words to Cardinal Vanhoye: “You, Lord Cardinal, have allowed us to listen to the Lord’s voice and in this way, helped us to learn again what His and our priesthood is. You have helped us to enter into participation with the priesthood of Christ and thus, to receive a new heart, the heart of Jesus, as the centre of the mystery of the New Covenant.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 18/2/2008; righe 26, parole 367)