• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis waves as he leads his general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican Jan. 4, 2023. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope remembers predecessor as a ‘great teacher of catechesis’

January 4, 2023
By Catholic News Service
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI was a “great teacher of catechesis” whose “sharp and gentle thinking” led others to encounter Jesus, Pope Francis said.

To begin his Jan. 4 general audience, the pope asked pilgrims to join the tens of thousands of people gathered in Rome to pay their respects to Pope Benedict, who died Dec. 31 at the age of 95.

Pope Francis greets nuns during his general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican Jan. 4, 2023. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

As of midday Jan. 4, the Vatican said, some 160,000 people had visited St. Peter’s Basilica where the late pope’s body had been lying in repose since the morning of Jan. 2.

At the audience Pope Francis noted that his predecessor’s teachings were not “self-referential, but ecclesial, because he always wanted to accompany us to an encounter with Jesus.”

The living and resurrected Christ “was the goal to which Pope Benedict led us, taking us by the hand,” the pope said. “May he help us to rediscover in Christ the joy of believing and the hope of living.”

Pope Benedict had held 347 weekly general audiences during his nearly eight-year pontificate. In his first talks he had continued a weekly catechesis series on the Psalms begun by his predecessor, St. John Paul II.

The first theme he chose to focus on was the role of the apostles in establishing the church. Then, each week from 2007 to 2011, Pope Benedict discussed the lives of various saints moving from the early church fathers and theologians of the Middle Ages to great women in the life of the church.

In 2011, he turned his attention to different ways of engaging with Christian prayer, before beginning his final catechesis series on faith, which coincided with the Year of Faith in 2012-2013 to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Pope Francis praised the teaching legacy of his predecessor as he finished his own catechesis series on discernment, which he began in August.

As the pope concluded the audience, a man shouted, “Benedetto, santo subito!” (“Benedict, sainthood now!”).

Pope Francis was scheduled to preside over his predecessor’s funeral Mass Jan. 5 in St. Peter’s Square.

Read More Pope Benedict XVI

Vatican to publish ‘private’ homilies of late Pope Benedict

Everyday collaborators of Pope Benedict XVI remember the late pontiff

‘I love you, Papa!’: Maryland Catholics recall encounters with Pope Benedict XVI

RADIO INTERVIEW: Remembering Pope Emeritus Benedict

In a turn of history, Poland is country that will miss German pope the most

Pope’s tribute to predecessor ‘refined and profound,’ says Benedict aide

Copyright © 2023 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Catholic News Service

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • 3 North Americans named to Vatican dicasteries for ecumenism, interreligious dialogue

  • Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

  • St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

  • superman Movie Review: Superman

  • DUAL ENROLLMENT Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

| Latest Local News |

Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

DUAL ENROLLMENT

Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

Radio Interview: Exploring the Nicene Creed – Part Two

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

| Latest World News |

Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit

Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war

care of creation

Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

sorry baby

Movie Review: Sorry, Baby

ICE

ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use
  • Movie Review: Superman
  • Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit
  • Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war
  • Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass
  • Movie Review: Sorry, Baby
  • ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release
  • Come away and rest awhile
  • French woman hopes sharing mystical encounter with Minnesota Benedictine helps sainthood cause

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en