THELEAVEN.ORG | VOL. 44, NO. 20 | JANUARY 6, 2023
1927 - 2022
Pope Benedict XVI Eight years a pope, but teacher for life By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service
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ATICAN CITY (CNS) — Retired Pope Benedict XVI, who had an impressive record as a teacher and defender of the basics of the Catholic faith, is likely to go down in history books as the first pope in almost 600 years to resign. He died Dec. 31 at the age of 95, nearly 10 years after leaving the papacy to retire to what he said would be a life of prayer and study. Pope Francis was IN THIS ISSUE scheduled to celebrate By the time you read his predecessor’s funeral this, Pope Benedict XVI Jan. 5 in St. Peter’s Square. will lie alongside his Matteo Bruni, director of 148 predecessors in the the Vatican press office, crypt beneath St. Peter’s said the funeral rites Basilica in Rome. would be simple in keepBut his legacy will live ing with the wishes of the on. late pope. Join The Leaven for both inside coverage of the funeral preparations and a deep dive into the former pope’s long life of service. What in the life of this churchman prepared him to break a papal tradition of almost 600 years and resign the papacy in an act that stunned the world? For this, and The Leaven’s coverage of the archdiocesan Year in Review and a special Call to Share feature, see inside.
MAKING HIS MARK
A close collaborator of St. John Paul II and the theological expert behind many of his major teachings and gestures, Pope Benedict came to the papacy after 24 years heading the doctrinal congregation’s work of safeguarding Catholic teaching on faith and morals, correcting the work of some Catholic theologians and ensuring LOCAL MASS FOR the theological solidity of POPE BENEDICT the documents issued by other Vatican offices. The Archdiocese of As pope, he continued Kansas City in Kansas writing as a theologian, but will hold a memorial also made historically imMass for Pope Benedict portant gestures to CathXVI, celebrated by Archolics who had difficulty bishop Joseph F. Nauaccepting all of the teachmann, on Jan. 7 at 11 a.m. at St. Michael the Archings of the Second Vatican angel Church, Leawood. Council, particularly about All are invited. the liturgy. In 2007, he widened permission to use the “extraordinary” or pre-Vatican II form of the Mass and, a short time later, extended a hand to the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X. Besides lifting the excommunications of four of the society’s bishops who were ordained illicitly in 1988, he launched a long and intense dialogue with the group. In the >> See “GERMAN-BORN” on page 10