Fr. Teddy

Our prayers have been answered. This weekend we celebrate and we give thanks to God for the gift to His Church of a new Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. In Pope Benedict we have been given a gentle, humble, holy man. He plays the piano.

He is a man who has been greatly caricatured by the communications media establishment over the years. For the past 24 years he has been Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This means that his job was to be vigilant for the deposit of faith, in other words, to safeguard the integrity of the teaching of Jesus Christ and of His Church. Anybody with only a passing knowledge of Church history will know that heresies have always abounded right from the first Christian centuries down to our own times. Naturally this difficult task did not make him popular with all, especially with those he had to correct. He is a gentle, shy man who always conducts his business with grace and brotherly love. He is a very accomplished theologian with a truly brilliant mind.
His role has changed for ever now. He has been called to be Bishop of Rome and Shepard of the Universal Church. His role will be chiefly a pastoral one. Somebody else will look after the technicalities of theology for him. I have no doubt that the Church is in the hands of a capable, good, holy man. I have a feeling that he will give us all a sense of confidence and security in our Catholic faith. Equally, I have a suspicion that young people will love him - they do sincerely want to know right from wrong. Let us pray for him. Céad mile fáilte, Holy Father. Gura fada buan é.