He sure has been in the news a lot lately. Pope Benedict XVI today marks the 5th anniversary of his election as the successor to St. Peter. On this very afternoon 5 years ago I found a television set in a private office at the bank to watch all the drama. I saw the white smoke, the ringing of the bells and the crowd rushing to St. Peter Square. The announcement is met with the loudest of ovations: Habemus Papam; we have a Pope. I had remembered this scene being played out with John Paul II, but that had been some 27 years earlier.
Benedict XVI has been the right man at the right time as the sovreign Pontiff. I don't think he, or anybody else for that matter, ever would have expected the chaos from the church clergy abuse scandal. After all, it is Benedict that has been much more aggressive and forthright in attacking the abuse scandal than previous Pope's.
Since the media has already done so much to misrepresent the scandal and to try and make it a broader attack on a Church it hates, let's think about the Church under Pope Benedict XVI. She continues to grow; approaching 1.1 billion members. In many Catholic countries, vocations are on the rise. Reforms in the liturgy are approved; making all translations truly universal. And Pope Benedict, while affirming the reforms of Vatican II and the Novus Ordo Mass, has made the use of the traditional Latin Mass more possible.
And Pope Benedict has proven to be very adept at selecting strong, vibrant Bishops across the world.
So Happy Anniversary Pope Benedict XVI; and hang in there. As Jesus addressed Peter in the Gospel yesterday: feed His lambs, tend His sheep, feed His sheep!
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