Originally published at National Catholic Register
COMMENTARY: Pope John Paul II’s 1993 encyclical reminds us to pray that we be more willing to die than to lie, cheat, steal, fornicate or commit adultery, let alone burn incense in front of an idol.
It wasn’t easy for Pope Benedict XVI to stay out of the limelight after his resignation. Not because he craved public attention, but because the public craved his. News media were ready to pounce on the slightest hint that the pope emeritus had an opinion, especially if the opinion differed from his successor’s.
One of the most unfortunate episodes involved the divulgation of private correspondence between Benedict and the then-prefect of the Secretariat for Communication of the Holy See, Msgr. Dario Viganò. As Archbishop Georg Gänswein relates in his memoir Who Believes Is Not Alone, Msgr. Viganò asked Benedict to write a preface to a series of books on the magisterium of Pope Francis. Though flattered, Benedict declined since he had too many prior commitments and his failing strength would not allow him to read all the volumes in the series. Besides, he had made it a principle never to write an introduction to a book he had never read.
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