Pope Benedict XVI
And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ and you will find true life. Amen.
And so, he continues the message of John Paul the Great, even as he moves in his own way. Through the prayers of John Paul the Great may we see Benedict grow in love and in his ability to understand, unite, and shepherd the people of God.
Dear Steven,
Every message our new Pope has delivered has moved me to tears. There's a luminous clarity and truth about his recent writings; he seems to speak to me in an intimate way that makes immediate sense and "ties together" so many disparate little insights I've had. As much as I love JP2, his writing was often opaque to me.
Ad multos annos!
bw