For , the Chaldean patriarch remembers the emeritus pontiff who died this morning. A “man of God” with a “luminous” face, who one day will be proclaimed “Doctor of the Church by his legacy”. The relationship of “deep closeness” with the Muslim world and the support for the Synod on the Middle East in 2010.
Milan () – A “prophetic” pontiff in his relationship with Islam, a “great theologian” with “clear and understandable” formulations and a pastor “close to Iraq and the Middle East”. The Baghdad Patriarch of the Chaldeans shared his memories of Benedict XVI with . The card. Louis Raphael Sako was elected primate of the Chaldean Church under the pope emeritus at the end of January 2013, just days before his historic resignation from the pontificate. “For Benedict XVI – affirms the cardinal – I feel great appreciation. He is a man of God, with a luminous face. He will probably one day be proclaimed a doctor of the Church for all that he has contributed in the field of theology. Today we don’t have a scholar of his stature!”
Pope Ratzinger – continues Cardinal Sako – contacted Baghdad by telephone, “for us Christians in the Middle East it was a gesture of profound closeness and care. One of the most vivid memories we keep -he continues- is the ad limina visit [de 2010], when he was Archbishop of Kirkuk and I proposed to him to hold a synod for the Middle East. He immediately accepted enthusiastically saying that ‘it’s a good idea and I give my consent’. He was also a very humble man and although it is not good to talk so soon about holiness, he was a true saint because of what he did “for the Church.”
Regarding the relationship with Iraq, Card. Sako defines her as “deeply close” and also in human relations she was “very attentive. I remember that when I was elected patriarch we had an audience with him. The Pope could not make long speeches because he was very tired, but he expressed his best wishes to me And looking at my sister, he told me that he also had one with whom he was very close and that unfortunately she had passed away”. The very fact of his resignation, he adds, shortly after that meeting and that “it left an impression on the whole world”, it supposes an “awareness” of the human limit. “When one understands that he can no longer carry out this responsibility – he explains – he withdraws and gives his place to another. That is a very clear example; that is a man of God”.
Finally, the relationship with Islam and the controversy that followed the famous Regensburg speech in 2006, which inflamed many areas in Europe and the Middle East. “The Muslims – points out Cardinal Sako – did not understand it and a strong tension had been created. I was Bishop of Kirkuk at the time and I suffered a lot; We also suffered a terrible attack, a car bomb exploded in front of a church and killed a Chaldean altar boy. Only later did they understand that he was right and today, with Pope Francis, great progress is being made, “both with the Sunni world and with Shiite Islam, as can be seen from the meetings with the imam of al-Azhar and the ayatollah at the -Sistani. “This closeness – he adds – has helped us Christians in the East a lot to continue with our lives and to strengthen peaceful coexistence”.
Benedict XVI, concludes Patriarch Sako, was “a man of courage, of faith, of prayer, capable of a deep human relationship, by no means superficial, cold or distant.” For days the Iraqi Church has been praying for the pope emeritus and will continue to do so in the coming hours with masses and prayers in memory of the pope emeritus.
