Dear members of the Holy Cross community,
As we bid farewell to 2022 and ring in the new year, we mourn the death and celebrate the life of Pope Benedict XVI.
I hope you will take some time to read the reflection published on The Conversation, by our own Professor Mathew Schmaltz, who acknowledges that Pope Benedict “leaves behind a complex legacy” but also predicts that his theology “will influence the Catholic Church for generations.”
Indeed, as the “main intellectual force in the Church” since Pope John Paul II named him Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in 1981, Benedict shaped Catholicism for a new century while remaining steadfast in his commitment to traditional Catholic doctrine. Although people of goodwill may debate the merits of Pope Benedict's more conservative views on theology, he possessed an extraordinary intellect for which he was widely admired and praised. Furthermore, there is no doubt that he lived a life of faith, humility, and service.
It is somehow appropriate that God called His Holiness home on New Year's Eve, a holiday in which the secular world celebrates new beginnings and resolves to change for the better. It is a call to renewal. As Pope Benedict once observed, "Holiness increases the capacity for conversion, for repentance, for willingness to start again and, especially, for reconciliation and forgiveness."
Today, it is my sincere hope that Pope Benedict is sitting with his Father celebrating this new beginning with abundant joy.
May you all share in God's blessings in the year ahead,
Vincent D. Rougeau
President