Benedict XVI, who died on Saturday 31 December, asks forgiveness from those he wronged.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died on Saturday at the age of 95, wrote in his 2006 spiritual testament “asking for forgiveness” for those he had “wronged”. “For all those whom I have wronged in one way or another, I ask forgiveness from the bottom of my heart,” writes Joseph Ratzinger, Pope from 2005 to 2013, in this text of August 29, 2006, published on Saturday evening by the press service of the Holy See was published.
The former Pope, implicated as Archbishop of Munich (1977-1982) in early 2022 for his handling of child crime cases in Germany, had already asked for “pardon” while affirming he had never covered crimes.
He also thanks God for his parents, sister and brother
“I pray that our country remains a country of faith, and I ask you, dear compatriots: do not let yourself be dissuaded from the faith,” wrote the 265 for almost ten years in a monastery. “Keep your faith! Don’t let yourself be unsettled,” he warns again.
Benedict XVI, who represented a conservative line at the head of the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013, also seems to distance himself from certain scientific advances. “I have long witnessed the changes in the natural sciences and have been able to observe how, on the contrary, the apparent certainties against faith have disappeared,” he wrote. He also thanks God for his parents, sister, and brother, and “the many friends, co-workers, teachers, and students” who stood by him.
“And I want to thank the Lord for my beautiful home at the foot of the Alps. Bavaria, where I have always seen the splendor of the Creator Himself shine. And finally, I thank God for all the beauty that I was able to experience at all stages of my journey, but especially in Rome and Italy, which became my second home,” he added.