‘Being a Christan means learning to be human again’

By Silvia Kritzenberger

Speaking to Vatican News after the solemn Mass he celebrated on the anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s death, Cardinal Kurt Koch said the late pope was “a very humble person who approached others and listened to what they had to say.

“He was a very kind person,” said the Swiss cardinal, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Christian Unity. “If you looked into his eyes, you could see there was a lot of inner light. It was always very important to him that being a Christian was based on being human. The two went together for him. To be a Christian is to relearn how to be human. And he was a great example of that.

Cardinal Koch speaks at memorial mass

The quest for God

Pope Benedict himself once said that he was aware that he would not have a long pontificate, that he would not be able to initiate major projects; that his concern, his mission, was to put faith back at the center of the Church. This is what the Swiss cardinal, appointed president of the Dicastery for Christian Unity by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, says.

“For him, the question of God was central. The central question of the question of God was at the heart of all his work – not just any God, a supreme being in heaven, but the God who is not silent but who speaks, who spoke to his people Israel and above all showed his face in Jesus of Nazareth, in Jesus Christ. The centrality of the question of God and of Christocentrism: this is the core (of the work of Pope Benedict XVI) which will certainly remain.”

Christian hope

In view of the Jubilee of Hope 2025, which began on Christmas Eve, Cardinal Koch mentioned Salvi, the encyclical that Benedict dedicated to the theme of Christian hope.

“It is a wonderful text,” he said, “which shows us that only those who do not take themselves too seriously can have hope. (Benedict) himself once said it this way: “If we took ourselves more lightly, we could fly like angels and birds.” But sometimes we take ourselves so seriously that we often get stuck on earth. We can only have hope if we orient our lives toward God. And this is why (Benedict) shows us what is the interior meaning of the Holy Year. This becomes visible with the door, the Doorthe symbol of Jesus Christ. It is only through him that we can achieve holiness, and I hope that this Holy Year will allow people to find the holiness they were promised at their baptism.

Tomb of Pope Benedict under St. Peter’s Basilica

A Christian and a father

Professor Ralph Weimann, member of the Ratzinger district of Schüleralso told Vatican News how much Benedict influenced him as a person and as a priest:

“For me, Pope Benedict was above all a Christian. It’s so easy to say, but it’s not always true. A Christian is someone who has put on Jesus Christ. And this is what Pope Benedict Joseph Ratzinger defended. He followed Christ with his truth and bore witness to it. And it left a deep impression on my heart and I am very grateful. He was like a father to me, but above all a Christian. A Christian with us, a father to us.

Georg Gänswein: In Rome in spirit

Benedict XVI’s long-time private secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, was unfortunately unable to attend this year’s memorial ceremony in Rome. Since this summer, he has been apostolic nuncio for the Baltic countries, based in Vilnius. However, his thoughts were on Rome on this New Year’s Eve.

“This is the second year that I have spent Christmas without Pope Benedict,” Gänswein told Vatican News. “The further I move geographically from home, from Rome, the more my inner proximity grows. Of course I feel sadness. But I also feel an inner hope and gratitude for all the time I was able to spend with him and by his side. In this respect, Christmas this year was very different from other years. But it’s still Christmas and I know that Benoît’s help has been given to me.

He also recalled Benedict XVI’s encyclical on Christian hope, which has a very special meaning in this Holy Year:

‘Salvi is an encyclical which firstly directs human hope towards God. And it is ultimately God himself who founds this hope. In him is the foundation and goal of this hope. For me, the encyclical, and therefore hope, has often become an anchor in my own life, an anchor, but also the goal of my life. Hope helps me to overcome difficulties and trials, to look towards the goal of my life, towards the hope founded in God.