7 of 7: I *heart* Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI!

Oops, this one is a little late cause I was talking with FrC.

It has been about one year since Benedict XVI stepped down from the papacy, and I think he was the cutest Pope ever! I'm currently writing him a letter and I hope that in his free time he will come visit us in Maryland.

A while ago, I read the book "Light of the World" which is a transcript from a six hour interview with the Pope. The following question regards the hat in the first picture.

The infamous red hat that caused such a stir.

 
It caused a stir when you chose the now famous camauro, a sort of peaked cap that had last been worn by John XXIII, as a head covering for the winter. Was that just a fashion accessory--or was it the expression of a return to tried and true forms in the Church?

"I wore it only once. I was just cold, and I happen to have a sensitive head. And I said, since the camauro is there, then let's put it on. But I was really just trying to fight off the cold. I haven't put it on again since. In order to forestall over-interpretation."

The Pope fell asleep at an event in Malta; 
maybe it was a science colloquium!

From Jesus of Nazareth, by Joseph Ratzinger:

I would only ask my readers for that initial goodwill without which there can be no understanding.

Forgiveness exacts a price—first of all from the person who forgives. He must overcome within himself the evil done to him; he must, as it were, burn it interiorly and in so doing renew himself. As a result, he also involves the other, the trespasser, in this process of transformation, of inner purification, and both parties, suffering all the way through and overcoming evil, are made new.

Praying the rosary while walking--
pretty good for an octogenarian.

I know that I need trials so that my nature can be purified. When you decide to send me these trials, when you give evil some room to maneuver, as you did with Job, then please remember that my strength goes only so far. 



The Exorcism of Baptism: These words imply a great liberating power—the great exorcism that purifies the world. No matter how many gods may have been at large in the world, God is only one, and only one is Lord. If we belong to him, everything else loses its power; it loses the allure of divinity.

Looks like he forgot the booster seat.

Afterward, though, it is time to stand firm, even along the monotonous desert paths that we are called upon to traverse in life—with the patience it takes to tread evenly, a patience in which the romanticism of the initial awakening subsides, so that only the deep, pure Yes of faith remains. 

This would have been the look on his face
 if we'd had the chance to meet me.

No conditions specifically involving knowledge of Revelation are enumerated, only ‘inquiring after God’ and the basic tenants of justice that a vigilant conscience—stirred into activity by the search for God—conveys to everyone.

The Pope snarling at a lion cub. Awesomest picture ever?

And love does admittedly run counter to self-seeking—it is an exodus out of oneself, and yet this is precisely the way in which man comes to himself.
 
From the final address of Pope Benedict XVI:

The Church is alive, she grows and she awakens in souls, which  - as the Virgin Mary – welcome the Word of God and conceive it through the work of the Holy Spirit; they offer to God their own flesh, indeed in their own poverty and humbleness, becoming capable of giving birth to Christ in the world today.

Pope Benedict goes to Washington? This is his American look.

Pope Benedict interviews the astronauts on the International Space Station. Aw! He sounds so cute. :o)