Benedict addressed his homeland of Germany directly, asking that “our land remain a land of faith and I pray, dear compatriots: do not let yourselves be drawn away from the faith.”
The number of practicing Catholics in Germany has dropped precipitously in recent years, in part due to growing secularism and the emergence of clerical sexual abuse scandals. In 2018 an independent report revealed more than 36,000 cases of abuse by clergy in Germany in the course of the preceding 68 years.
The report inspired bishops to embark on a process known as the “Synodal Path” to address the scandals. The exercise has revealed growing demands by the German faithful to increase accountability and transparency in the church but also to promote the role of lay people, especially women.
A January report found that bishops in the southern German Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, including Ratzinger, failed to punish clergy and laypeople who committed sexual abuse between 1945 and 2019. Benedict denied any wrongdoing when the report was published.
“To anyone whom I have harmed in some way, I sincerely ask forgiveness,” Benedict wrote in his spiritual will. The pope specifically mentioned his time in Rome, his “second homeland,” and the happy times spent in the Eternal City.
His closing words were of impassioned faith. “Jesus Christ is truly the way, the truth and the life — and the Church with all its shortcomings, is truly His body. Finally, I humbly ask: Pray for me, so that the Lord, despite all my sins and insufficiencies, welcomes me into the eternal dwellings,” he wrote.
Benedict’s body will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica from Monday until Thursday, when a “simple and sober” funeral mass will be celebrated by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square, in accordance with Benedict’s wishes. A small ceremony will follow in which he will be placed in the grottoes under the basilica where popes are laid to rest.
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This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.
, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI thanked his family and friends, but chiefly God, for standing by him during his long life and career in the church.){kind=link}