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January 13, 2023, Rome – Pope Benedict XVI was an “accomplished pianist and scholar” who set a precedent for future popes in his surprising decision to retire from the papacy and leave it to another to lead the Catholic Church.
That’s how Sister Durstyne Farnan, OP, Dominican Representative to the UN, remembered Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. She was among a group of Catholic Sisters who reflected on his contributions to the Church shortly after he died on December 31, 2022.
Sister Durstyne was quoted in a January 5, 2023, Global Sisters Report article saying she believes that Pope Benedict will be remembered “as a shy scholar who led the church for eight years,” and as a “student of the Word [who] desired to know Jesus intimately.” She noted his three-volume work on Jesus, which he wrote while in retirement.
Like many others, Sister Durstyne pointed to the importance of his decision to retire. “It paves the way for any pope in the future to do likewise,” she said. “Perhaps this is one of the additional gifts Benedict leaves the Church today.”
Read more of Sister Durstyne’s comments and the reflections of other Sisters in the Global Sisters Report article by Chris Herlinger and Dan Stockman.