On April 2005 I was still in high school and on that particular day I was taking part of a program for the National Honor Society. Because of that particular participation I was required to wear something nice. I decided on my Sunday best, a blue and white skirt with black line scribbles of flowers and a black blouse with a matching blue collar. I felt pretty. The usual khaki pants and school polo had always made me feel frumpy and I was a rather awkward child in high school. But the only reason I remember all those small little details was that was the day of 'Habemus Papam!'.
It between classes when a classmate of mine apporched me and told me that they was white smoke coming from the Sisten Chapel.
'With the bells?' I asked him.
'Yeah, I think.' He said.
with that I rushed to my next class which, fortunately for me, was a rather pathetic, barely got by on the skin of it's teeth, religion class (I believe it was Comparative Religions) which gave me the perfect excuse to run to my teacher and practically beg to watch the announcement of the next Pope.
I still remember having my eyes glued to the screen while the rest of the classroom couldn't have cared less.
Then the announcement:
Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum:
Habemus Papam!
Eminentissimum ac reverendissimum Dominum,
Dominum Iosephum Sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Cardinalem Ratzinger,
Qui sibi nomen imposuit Benedictus PP. XVI.
My ear for Latin at the time was underdeveloped so it took me awhile to hear 'Ratzinger'.
I had several thoughts at the time, first was 'When was the last time we had a German pope?'; my second thought when he stepped out on the balcony was 'Wow, he looks a lot like one of my great-uncles, must be the German.'
What truly sadden me that day was the fact that I was so excited for the new Pope and the rest of my school (which supposedly was Catholic) was not. There was no announcement over the intercom, no moment of silent prayer for the new earthly leader of Holy Mother Church, no one to gleefully jump up and down with me. It was one of those moments in life where I felt quite alone in a crowded room.
At the time I knew Cardinal Ratzinger through 'The Ratzinger Report' and the fact that he was head of the Office that use to be known as the Inquistion. But since his election I read as much as I could of all his writings before he was elected and read everything that he published since elected.
Two words: Heavy reading.
Really! I still re-reading everything just to get the general gist of them.
But I have to confess, a big reason I was really excited was that I was going to catch a glimpse of him at the up coming World Youth Day 2005 hosted in Cologne, Germany. A German Pope in Germany for World Youth Day - I had a Catholic geek-out moment there, I'm not ashamed to admit that.
Nearly eight years later His Holiness Benedict XVI, after much prayer and contemplation is abdicating his position.
I cannot tell you how many of my co-workers have asked my opinion of the matter. So this is just my thoughts on the situation. This.
