85 years of age and 7 years as Pope. When, already advanced in age, Card. Joseph Ratzinger
was elected Pope many wondered if after years marked by the infirmity of his great
predecessor, his papacy would be as strong and durable as hoped for, and whether a
theologian who had led a specifically doctrinal Dicastery for such a long time would
know how to undertake the very different task of the pastoral governance of the Universal
Church.
In these seven years we have had 23 international trips to 23 countries
and 26 different trips to Italy, we have witnessed four synods of bishops and three
World Youth Days, we have read three encyclicals and received countless other addresses
and magisterial acts, we have participated in a Pauline Year and a Year for Priests,
we saw the Pope to face with courage, humility and determination - that is, with a
clear evangelical spirit - difficult situations, like the crisis of sexual abuse.
We read - something new and original – in his work on Jesus of Nazareth and his book-length
interview "Light of the world." Above all, we have learned from the coherence and
consistency of his teaching that the priority of his service to the Church and to
humanity is to guide lives to God, the God who was made known by Jesus Christ, that
faith and reason help each other in seeking the truth and respond to the expectations
and demands of each one of us and humanity as a whole, that the marginalisation of
God and relativism are serious dangers of our time. We are immensely grateful for
all this. And we are still journeying with him, towards the World Meeting of Families
and the Middle East, towards the Synod on the New Evangelization and the Year of the
faith. In the hands of God, serving God and his Church.