On this day in 2005, Joseph Card. Ratzinger was elected as the 265th Successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.
May God grant Pope Benedict health and length of days!
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Happy Anniversary, B16…. those years ago, I could never have imagined how this pope would affect my young family and strengthen our faith in Christ, Scripture, the church, and tradition…. Really, that’s all I can say. Thank you Benedict… and, God willing, many, many more!
I remember talking to certain family members who were terrified at the prospect of Joseph Ratzinger being Pope. They, who were in the tank for a fictional John XXIII who could be used to justify things Angelo Roncalli would have found abhorrent, were quick to console themselves in the idea that Benedict XVI was merely a “transitional pope.”
Oh, the irony. Those who would crow about John XXIII being elected as a transitional pope who fooled everyone, wre now pinning their hopes on Benedict being transitional.
Well, transitional he is. And what a transition it’s been!
I didn’t remember that there was a brass band.
How I love and respect our little pope! It is a pleasure to watch him work and to learn from him.
Praise and thanks be to God for giving us good Pope Benedict XVI.
Thomas,
I was surrounded by the same… I have loved ones who still call him “the Rat”… I remember the twiddling of thumbs, the “transitional” talk… I was pretty deep in myself… I guess I was hoping for an Obama-pope, too, back then… seems like an age ago…
And then he started publishing Encyclicals, and opening his mouth, and making waves…. and when you scrape away the media crust and look at the man’s words, he makes sense…. It just feels like an exciting time to be a Catholic….
I met a priest the other day who told me what a cardinal had said about the voting in the conclave. I didn’t want to hear it. He blurted out what THE cardinal said anyway. I won’t repeat it, but, just to say, with Saint Robert Bellarmino, it seems to me that the Church was never so close to going to hell as then. Of course, the Church is always hanging from the Cross over the hell of Calvary. But this…. Yikes! What could have been!
I hadn’t seen that video before! Thanks for posting it. I was still Protestant when B16 was elected, and I didn’t know much about him or the Church, but I was happy about his election because all the right people were ticked off. Then I became Catholic and really started to love him.
May Almighty God give our holy father length of days and protection from the wolves that surround him, it seems from every quarter. When he was elected I remember thinking to myself: “What does this mean for traditional catholics”? I’d have to say that there has been a vast improvement in relations with us since Summorum Pontificum and the lifting of the excommunications. But, there remains so much more to be done and taking the SSPX, and other traditional groups, out of “canonical limbo” with faculties and some form of jurisdiction would be IMHO first on the list.
Prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father! May his reign continue to be glorious.
My trepidation at the election of Pope Benedict XVI quickly melted away. I began to watch his face closely, and his eyes. I began to read and devour what he had written. I pray daily for this Holy Father, for his success in all he does for the Will of God and His Church and for his protection. Strangely, he looks very like my 6′ 3 1/2″ first generation German American stepfather – God rest his Lutheran soul, even to the glorious head of white hair. When in Paul VI Hall for an audience in 2006, I was stunned at how little he is – in physical stature only. He towers in intellect and in all the other ways that count.
I was not yet re-verted to Catholicism when Pope Benedict was elected. All my old secularist, ultra-liberal ideas were intact then. Boy was I angry when I heard that Card. Ratzinger was elected! Like others, I comforted myself with knowing how old he was and that he would just be a “transitional” pope.
Now, of course, I hope we have many more years with him! I just love him so much!
Is it not suitable that we also celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday today? God has been most merciful in providing us with such an excellent Holy Father! :D Deo gratias!
I always cry when I see this clip.
BTW it is cool because does not have commentator
Yes-happy anniversary to our Holy Papa-and our German Shepherd!
I remember hearing that Padre Pio said to someone who wished him many more years, “What did I ever do to you?” and can envision Pope Benedict thinking but not saying that, as we wish him “Ad multos annos!”
He really speaks to my heart, and teaches me, with and without words.
He also has a good sense of humor, as I heard he recently said that if he doesn’t find in hot water with the media at least every week or two, he really has to examine his conscience! Love it!
Keep writing, Holy Father, and speaking to us. God be with you and protect you, and us.
…long to reign over us. God save the Pope.