Some of them were throwing stones, others were cursing him and using bad language.” “Poor Holy Father,” she said, “we must pray very much for him.”
There can be no doubt that these words apply today to the Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI, as he is being held up to unprecedented ridicule and scorn by a hateful press, unfaithful shepherds and flock, and a world so out of touch with its spiritual nature and moral being.
One can almost hear Jesus saying to the peaceful and benevolent Pope: “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first” (John 15:18). Contrary to his critics the Pope, like Jesus, is completely innocent and is doing everything in his power to weed out those priests guilty of sexual abuse and to justly compensate victims for their suffering.
In fact he is the one above all else in society who has tackled these things head on. Remember that even Jesus had his Judas. But the world wants to see the death of the Church because it knows She is the mother of all saints.
It knows that the Catholic Church is the last bastion of hope against a materialistic world that craves immorality at every step.
Pope Benedict XVI will be remembered not for the scandals of a few priests but for his intense suffering in protecting the faith from wolves in sheep’s clothing. He will be known as one of the greatest of Catholic saints and martyrs.
But we must pray very much for the Pope and for the church! Let us unite our prayers with the Children of Fatima who may have been praying for this very Pope in their vision. With God there is no time and all prayers are present to him.
PAUL KOKOSKI
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
