A Statement from New Ulm Bishop Chad W. Zielinski
on the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
The faithful and I of the Diocese of New Ulm, join the Universal Church in praying for the eternal rest of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. As an extraordinary theologian, he had an unrelenting passion for the truth which he taught with great compassion and humility. His personal encounter with Jesus Christ radiated a joy that could not be contained and he desired that the entire world embrace Our Savior, the greatest gift of God, the Father.
In his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), he articulated the passion of a shepherd’s heart: “We have come to believe in God’s love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction (#1).”
As we are sent as missionary disciples to carry on his legacy, may his passing spark an increased thirst for God’s love and may we walk in his sacred footprints recalling the abundant teachings he has left etched in the history of the Church as a great gift.