In his message to John Paul II at the beginning of the Thanksgiving Mass for the 25th Anniversary of the Pontificate of John Paul II, then-Cardinal Ratzinger said:
Most Holy Father,
Exactly 25 years ago, at this time, the Cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel elected you to the office of the Successor of St Peter, and you said your "yes" to the grace and burden of that office.
Twenty-five years ago, Cardinal Pericle Felici, Pro-Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, solemnly announced to the crowd waiting in St Peter's Square: "Habemus Papam". Twenty-five years ago, from the Loggia of the Blessings, you imparted the Urbi et Orbi Blessing for the first time and, with an unforgettable Address, instantly won the hearts of the Romans as well as of the many people across the world who were following you and listening to you. You said at that time that you came from a distant country, but we saw immediately that the faith in Jesus Christ that shone from your words and from your whole person overcomes all distances; that in the faith we have all grown close to one another. Right from the start you enabled us to experience this force of Christ that breaks down barriers and creates peace and joy.
What did he admire and value about John Paul II's papacy?
... You have tirelessly travelled the world, not only to bring to men and women the Gospel of the love of God made flesh in Jesus Christ, beyond all geographical boundaries; you have also crossed the continents of the spirit, often far from one another and set against each other, to bring strangers close, to make the distant friends, and to make room in the world for the peace of Christ (cf. Eph 2: 17). You have spoken to young and old, to the rich and the poor, the powerful and the humble — after the example of Jesus Christ — and you have always shown special love for the poor and defenceless, bringing to all a spark of God's truth and love. You have proclaimed God's will fearlessly, even when it was in opposition to what people thought and desired. Like the Apostle Paul, you can say that you have never sought to flatter with words nor to be honoured by mankind, but have watched over God's children as a mother. Like Paul, you too felt drawn to people and wanted to help them share not only in the Gospel but also in your own life (cf. I Thes 2: 5-8). You have undergone criticism and insults, arousing, however, gratitude and love, and causing the walls of hatred and unfamiliarity to crumble.
We can note today that you have put your whole being into serving the Gospel and have let yourself be spent by it (II Cor 12: 15). In your life the word "cross" is not merely a word. You have let yourself be wounded by it, body and soul. Again, like Paul, you too bear suffering to complete in your earthly life what is still lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of the Body of Christ which is the Church (cf. Col 1: 24).
Benedict XVI has an articulate ability to express not only what the Church's teachings are, but why we believe it. If I may share my personal thoughts on this, I'd like to say that I find this very encouraging, because in the days prior to the Conclave that elected Benedict XVI on April 19, 2005, I surmised that God would give us a pope who could build on the foundations built by John Paul II. One particular foundation that draws my attention was built with the bricks of many, many writings, which explained in easy-to-understand language all of the teachings of the Church that are important for our faith life today. What the world needs now is an articulate speaker who can speak with the same inspirational energy as John Paul II had in his writings, to teach the world why this is what we believe and how we should live it.
In his last homily as Cardinal, during the Mass of preparing for the conclave, Benedict XVI spoke of the importance of having a clear faith based on the creed of the Church, because the world has been moving toward a "dictatorship of relativism" which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires.
"How many winds of doctrine we have known in these last decades, how many ideological currents, how many fashions of thought? The small boat of thought of many Christians has often remained agitated by the waves....
"Every day new sects are born and we see realized what St. Paul says on the deception of men, on the cunning that tends to lead into error (cf. Ephesians 4:14). To have a clear faith, according to the creed of the Church, is often labeled as fundamentalism. While relativism, that is, allowing oneself to be carried about with every wind of 'doctrine,' seems to be the only attitude that is fashionable. A dictatorship of relativism is being constituted that recognizes nothing as absolute and which only leaves the 'I' and its whims as the ultimate measure.
"We have another measure: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. 'Adult' is not a faith that follows the waves in fashion and the latest novelty. Adult and mature is a faith profoundly rooted in friendship with Christ. This friendship opens us to all that is good and gives us the measure to discern between what is true and what is false, between deceit and truth.
"We must mature in this adult faith; we must lead the flock of Christ to this faith. And this faith, the only faith, creates unity and takes place in charity.... Charity without truth would be blind; truth without charity would be like "a clanging cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13:1). ..."
For the entire homily, go to http://zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=69555
Interestingly, before this homily, the topic of "moral relativism" had been on my thoughts more than usual. I had been ruminating on the strange phenomenon of today's youth who are on fire for the Lord — enthusiastically and genuinely worshiping the Lord, adoring the Eucharist, praying the Rosary — and yet at the same time finding nothing wrong with cheating on exams or lying or uncontrolled materialism and any other sins that cater to self-centered desires. When I was young, after one converted to Christ and reached that level of enthusiasm that I see in the evangelized youth of today, the whole person was transformed. Converts repented. Converts became some of the most determined Christians to not sin. It was safe to assume that once you led someone to Christ, Christ converted them into Christ-like people and their lives changed dramatically. Cheating, lying, greed and materialism were automatically weeded out by love for Christ.
Not so today.
As I further ruminated on this, I realized that our youth today are merely reflecting the moral relativism of today's world. No matter how much we try to raise them in the Holy Spirit and with a good faith life, the world is still one of their teachers, and a very influential teacher at that, thanks to the entertainment world and vast power of the media.
God has always known that the world at this time would come to this degree of dissolving away the differences between right and wrong. He has long been preparing Joseph Ratzinger to serve as pope and make a strong impact to turn the tide away from moral relativism and give us moral clarity. God gave us John Paul II to lay the groundwork of making the truth clear, and he has now given us Benedict XVI to teach the world not only what the truth is but why we need to believe it.
