VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI at Angelus reflection recalls Pope John Paul II, “contemplative and missionary”: “In him we admired the power of the faith and prayer and total trust in Most Holy Mary who accompanied and protected him always”

Monday, 17 October 2005

Vatican City (Fides Service) - On 16 October 1978, 27 years ago the Archbishop of Krakow Cardinal Karol Wojtyła was elected successor of Saint Peter. The recurrence was highlighted by Benedict XVI during his reflection before the Angelus prayer on Sunday 16 October .
“With Pope John Paul II began one of the longest pontificates in the history of the Church - said Pope Benedict XVI -, during which the pope ‘who came from afar’ was recognised as a moral authority by many also non Christians and non believers as it was seen by expressions of affection on the occasion of his illness and later sympathy at his death.” The unending pilgrimage to his tomb “is an eloquent sign of how much the beloved John Paul II found his way to people’s hearts above all with his witness of love and dedication in suffering. In him we admired the power of the faith and prayer and total trust in Most Holy Mary who accompanied and protected him always, particularly at the most difficult the tragic times of his life.”
Benedict XVI said John Paul “was a Pope completely consecrated to Jesus through Mary”: the rosary beads he carried “was a symbol of his pontificate”, thanks to the media, “Catholics the world over felt united to him in this Marian prayer and re-discovered, thanks to his example and teaching, the authentic contemplative and Christological sense of this prayer … with Mary in the joyful, illuminating, sorrowful and glorious mysteries we contemplate Christ encountered in the Gospel and in the Sacrament in the various moments of his life. At the school of the Mother we learn to become ever more similar to her Divine Son and bear witness to him with our life”.
“Beloved Pope John Paul II was contemplative and missionary thanks to intimate union with God, nourished daily by the Eucharist and other long periods of prayer.” Benedict XVI encouraged people to continue to thank God for “giving the Church and the world such a worthy successor of St Peter”, and he prayed that the Blessed Virgin Mary “will help us appreciate the Pope’s priceless heritage”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 17/10/2005; righe 27, parole 372)
Vatican City (Fides Service) - On 16 October 1978, 27 years ago the Archbishop of Krakow Cardinal Karol Wojtyła was elected successor of Saint Peter. The recurrence was highlighted by Benedict XVI during his reflection before the Angelus prayer on Sunday 16 October .
“With Pope John Paul II began one of the longest pontificates in the history of the Church - said Pope Benedict XVI -, during which the pope ‘who came from afar’ was recognised as a moral authority by many also non Christians and non believers as it was seen by expressions of affection on the occasion of his illness and later sympathy at his death.” The unending pilgrimage to his tomb “is an eloquent sign of how much the beloved John Paul II found his way to people’s hearts above all with his witness of love and dedication in suffering. In him we admired the power of the faith and prayer and total trust in Most Holy Mary who accompanied and protected him always, particularly at the most difficult the tragic times of his life.”
Benedict XVI said John Paul “was a Pope completely consecrated to Jesus through Mary”: the rosary beads he carried “was a symbol of his pontificate”, thanks to the media, “Catholics the world over felt united to him in this Marian prayer and re-discovered, thanks to his example and teaching, the authentic contemplative and Christological sense of this prayer … with Mary in the joyful, illuminating, sorrowful and glorious mysteries we contemplate Christ encountered in the Gospel and in the Sacrament in the various moments of his life. At the school of the Mother we learn to become ever more similar to her Divine Son and bear witness to him with our life”.
“Beloved Pope John Paul II was contemplative and missionary thanks to intimate union with God, nourished daily by the Eucharist and other long periods of prayer.” Benedict XVI encouraged people to continue to thank God for “giving the Church and the world such a worthy successor of St Peter”, and he prayed that the Blessed Virgin Mary “will help us appreciate the Pope’s priceless heritage”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 17/10/2005; righe 27, parole 372)


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