I’ll never forget standing on the tarmac at Andrew’s Air Force Base in 2008 with a gaggle of journalists waiting for "Shepherd One" to touch down. Like the rest of my colleagues, my feet were killing me, but the excitement was palpable.
The honor guard was in place, Secret Service agents were in place, and dignitaries were queued up. Moments after the Alitalia airliner came to a halt, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush were first in line to greet the beaming German pontiff.
As he moved from the tarmac into an awaiting limo, he blessed the adoring crowds, including the journalists covering his visit.
America had only hosted two popes — Paul VI in 1965 and John Paul II on seven occasions — but this was the first and only visit of Pope Benedict XVI.
Sounding incredibly like his predecessor, Benedict lauded American values and its responsibility to guard freedom and protect the vulnerable.
"Freedom is not only a gift but also a summons to personal responsibility," he said in his opening remarks, just before celebrating his 81st birthday at the White House.
"The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good, and a sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate. It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate."
John Paul II had said almost the same thing to Americans on multiple occasions.
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It should come as no surprise that Benedict and John Paul were of one mind on most issues. Both men were formed in the crucible of the Second World War. Both were influential fathers of the Second Vatican Council. Karol Wojtyla — the future John Paul II — was a young bishop from Kraków. Josef Ratzinger — the future Benedict XVI — was an adviser to the archbishop of Cologne, Germany.
For both, the Council was the launchpad for their papacies.
Their contributions to Vatican II are legendary — Ratzinger’s to Dei Verbum, a document about the sources of revelation, and Wojtyla to Gaudium et Spes, about the Church in the modern world
Remarkably, they didn’t meet during the Council. Their paths crossed at the 1978 conclave that elected Italian cardinal Albino Luciani — Pope John Paul I.
Ratzinger later recalled his first impression of the Polish cardinal.
"I was particularly impressed by his human warmth and the deep inner rooting in God which appeared so clearly," he said of that meeting. "And then, of course, I was also impressed by his philosophical education, his acuteness as a thinker, and his ability to communicate his knowledge."
Shortly after his election in 1978, John Paul II asked Ratzinger to work with him in Rome. But the newly minted German cardinal declined, having only been archbishop of Munich for little more than 18 months.
The pope renewed his offer in 1981. This time Ratzinger accepted. He took on several roles at the Vatican in early 1982, including Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a post he held until being elected John Paul’s successor in 2005.
Their 23-year partnership was one of the greatest in modern Church history.
"The collaboration with the Holy Father was always characterized by friendship and affection," Benedict told an interviewer in 2013. "It developed above all on two planes: the official and the private."
The two met regularly for lunch on Tuesdays and again on Friday evenings to discuss work. A deep friendship also developed.
"[The idea] that John Paul II was a saint came to me from time to time, in the years of my collaboration with him, ever more clearly," Benedict said.
They became Catholicism’s dynamic duo. It was almost like Ratzinger was Robin to John Paul’s Batman. But it was deeper than that. Ratzinger’s input gave John Paul’s writings greater depth and clarity. Ratzinger was John Paul’s sounding board for many of his initiatives — from the launching of World Youth Day to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, first published in 1992.
Like John Paul II, Benedict understood his responsibility to faithfully interpret the Second Vatican Council.
In some sense, Benedict’s reign was an eight-year extension of John Paul’s 26-year papacy. Both leaned heavily on Council documents in their encyclicals, speeches, and papal writings. Both men helped cement Church teachings on the priesthood, sexuality, and papal authority.
Benedict went on to break new ground on liturgy and ecumenism. His 2007 motu proprio loosened restrictions on priests’ ability to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass. Two years later, he created a path for Anglicans to come into full communion with the Catholic Church.
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History may remember Benedict XVI for his abdication in 2013 — the first pope to do so in more than 600 years. But he saw himself as a simple "co-worker in the truth" — the episcopal motto he chose for himself in 1977.
When he’s laid to rest in the crypt under St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday, Benedict’s remains will fittingly occupy the tomb left vacant when John Paul was moved to the upper basilica in 2011. This will be only the second papal funeral in 44 years — and the first time a sitting pope presides over the funeral of a former pope in centuries.
Pope Francis may well quote Benedict who fittingly described John Paul II’s entrance into heaven while presiding over his funeral in 2005: "We can be sure that our beloved pope is standing today at the window of the Father’s house, that he sees us and blesses us. Yes, bless us, Holy Father."
That’s a blessing I would readily accept again — this time from heaven.
