Pope Benedict XVI: A Good Year

Newsmax ^ | 18 Dec 2009 | Edward Pentin

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The year now ending has been a momentous one for Pope Benedict XVI and probably his busiest to date.

It began with his highly controversial decision to lift the excommunications on four break-away bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, and more or less ended with his historic decision to facilitate the reception of large groups of Anglicans into the Catholic Church.

But in between were many other significant events. The Pope made an eagerly anticipated pilgrimage to the Holy Land, published his first social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), held a Synod of Bishops on Africa, and canonised ten new saints, one of whom was a Belgian missionary who ministered to leprosy patients in Hawaii. He also closed a year dedicated to the life of the Apostle Paul and opened a new one in honor of priests.

Yet perhaps the most memorable moment in the Pope’s year was unplanned. The outcry caused by his lifting of the excommunications on four break-away bishops, one of whom was the Holocaust denier Richard Williamson, prompted Benedict XVI to take the unusual step of writing a highly personal letter to Catholic bishops.

The Pope humbly acknowledged that mistakes were made, even going so far as to say that his staff should have made better use of the Internet to find out more about Williamson’s past. But he also expressed his sadness at the hostility to his decision, making a point of thanking some Jewish leaders for showing greater sympathy than some Catholics. Although frustrating for him, the episode revealed the Pope to be sensitive yet resolute in pursuing his ecclesiastical vision, one which tries to unite the Catholic Church of today with its centuries of tradition.

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