The last week of October 2022, the Saint Paul CEU University of Madrid held a Congress on the occasion of Benedict XVI’s 95th birthday. In that context, on Wednesday, October 26, German journalist Peter Seewald intervened, who is the Pope Emeritus’ biographer. 

Seewald shared that in early October he visited Benedict XVI and had the impression that he “is suffering very much because of the present situation of the Church. He said that perhaps God is still keeping him here to give witness to the world.” And the biographer added: “He is a man who has suffered a lot. We’ll see how he will pass into history in the coming years.”

Asked about the injustices that the Pope Emeritus has faced, Seewald, who is also a writer, answered that one of them is his own failure for not having made known his true personality, with his human grandeur. In his intervention, Seewald highlighted Benedict XVI’s genius, his ability to dialogue and the fact that what he “prophesied” about the Church, has come true.

Covadonga Asturias | ZENIT News