Bishop Martin Amos, retired bishop of Davenport, Iowa celebrated a memorial Mass for the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at noon on Jan. 5 in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. A formal, framed portrait of the late pope stood near the altar during the well-attended, livestreamed Mass.
“We come together today to pray for the repose of the soul of Pope Benedict and to thank God for all the blessings that came to the Church through him,” the bishop said as he began the liturgy. The Mass coincided with the late pontiff’s funeral Mass that was celebrated earlier in the day at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Pope Francis, the late pope’s successor, presided at that liturgy and was the homilist.
At the Cleveland Mass, Father Sean Ralph, cathedral rector, was the homilist. He reflected on Pope Benedict’s life, noting he was the 265th man to govern the universal Church. Born on April 16, 1927 in Germany, Father Ralph said there were difficult circumstances in the future pope’s youth. His faith and family upbringing prepared him for the harsh experience of problems connected with the Nazi regime. After World War II, he resumed his studies and was ordained a priest in 1951.
During the Second Vatican Council, Father Ralph said then-Father Joseph Ratzinger was present at all four sessions as a chief theological advisor. In 1977, he was named archbishop of Munich by Pope Paul VI and was elevated to cardinal just three months later. In 1981, Pope John Paul II appointed him as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
“He distinguished himself as a defender of truth and of reason even as the world was becoming increasingly relativistic,” Father Ralph said.
In 2005, Cardinal Ratzinger was elected pope and took the name Benedict XVI. “He governed the universal Church for eight years and in 2013, became the first pope in 600 years to resign the Petrine ministry,” Father Ralph noted. “The last 10 years of his life were spent out of the spotlight praying for the Church,” he added.
Pope Benedict’s last words, uttered on Dec. 31, 2022, the day of his death were, “Jesus, I love you,” Father Ralph said.
He remembered the late pontiff as “a towering intellect of our times who left the Church a treasury of writings that will be a gift for many years to come. He was a humble man of prayer who listened for the voice of God and responded with faith in all situations. He had a deep love for the truth, Jesus Christ and the Church,” Father Ralph told the congregation at the memorial Mass.
He said funerals and memorial Masses are not really about the celebration of a person’s life. “They are really the intersection of God’s love for us with the story of our lives.”
Father Ralph said the Church uses images and symbols to help us understand these truths. Pope Benedict used laughter -- which most see as a strange image -- when speaking about death. But Father Ralph explained that the late pope spent much time reflecting on the Old Testament story of the sacrifice of Isaac. He thought about Isaac being tied down on the altar of sacrifice full of fear and dread when suddenly, God intervened. Father Ralph explained that a ram was caught in a nearby thicket and when Isaac spotted it, his dread turned to laughter. “The gruesome drama that would have been his death became a divine comedy,” he said, noting the name Isaac means laughter.
“Pope Benedict understands this,” he said, adding he pointed to Jesus Christ noting how out of love for us, Jesus allowed himself “to be caught up in the thicket of human life and to take our place on the cross. As we confront the reality of death, unsure of what lies ahead, we need only lift our eyes to the cross and behold him who has taken our place. Our fear and dread becomes laughter in the face of death because we know that death doesn’t get the final word. Jesus Christ destroys sin and death in every one of our lives and opens the way to eternal life,” he said.
“This is not a story of tragedy; it’s a divine comedy because of its intersection with the story of God’s love for us. That’s the reason for our hope today because of what Jesus won for each of us so Pope Benedict could laugh in the face of death,” Father Ralph added.
Click here for more coverage of the late pope’s death. Watch the archived Jan. 5 memorial Mass from the cathedral here.
In addition, a Mass was celebrated for Pope Benedict at 12:10 p.m. Jan. 5 from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. It was livestreamed by Catholic Faith Network, which also can be viewed on streaming platforms such as Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, Apple TV, FiOs by Verizon, Roku and Samsung Smart TV.
The entire archived funeral Mass, as broadcast from the Vatican by EWTN, can be viewed here.