The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has stressed that the «historical contingency» of two popes living together in the Vatican, one reigning and the other retired from his functions, tried to be exploited to «create confusion» without success.
«The historical contingency that has seen two Successors of Peter coexisting at the same time has configured an unprecedented institutional situation for the Church, which could also be delicate. Perhaps someone thought to take advantage of it, and even tried to do so, to sow confusion. But he did not achieve his purpose…», said Parolin without giving the identity of the person or persons who tried to exploit the situation that has come to an end with the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Saturday, December 31, at the age of 95.
Five days later, Francis presided over his funeral in a multitudinous ceremony at the Vatican that ended with the burial of the pope emeritus in the Vatican grottoes, in the same crypt that first belonged to John XXIII and then to John Paul II.
In an interview published in the newspaper ‘Il Corriere della Sera’, Parolin has recognized that both popes had «different temperaments, sensibilities, ideas, preferences, existential trajectories». «The Church is adorned by her Lord with many jewels, and no pope is a clone of another pope,» he said. Nevertheless, he stressed the «natural continuity of the pontifical Magisterium» between Francis and Benedict XVI and their fraternal relationship. «The affection expressed in their embraces, in the glances and words they exchanged in their meetings was for many a source of emotion and consolation,» he said.
He has also praised «the gentleness» of the pope emeritus, which «was not only a temperamental trait.» «It was also the reverberation of how the Gospel had shaped his heart and soul over time,» he explained.
Thus, he defined him as one of the «greatest theologians of the 20th century» and stressed his «humility», which had its «maximum public manifestation» in the resignation of the pontificate.
«His naked faith remained. That of one who gratefully praises the Lord also for having hidden the important things from the wise and learned and revealed them to the little ones. For this reason, I believe that even the malicious caricatures constructed by some to denigrate his person will be swept away as if they were straw, in the long memory of the Church,» he stressed.
Thus, he recalled that, already when he was a cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger recognized what he called the «truly democratic function of the ecclesial Magisterium» and that he even asked that all the baptized be protected from «partisan operations».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
