From The National Catholic Register-
At the age of 78, when most men are either retiring or already retired, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger began a new and awesome period in his life. On April 19, 2005, he was elected as the 265th vicar of Christ, taking the name of Pope Benedict XVI. People may well have wondered: Considering his age, what will the new Pope be able to accomplish in the remaining years of his life?
The answer is: a great deal! As we mark the fifth anniversary of his papal election on April 19, 2010, we realize he has already done so much. He brought to his new responsibilities a deep spirit of prayer, a great theological depth, and a zeal to proclaim “the presence of the living Christ to the whole world,” as he told the College of Cardinals the day after his election.
He set clear goals for himself. Probably the most significant of them was his determination to appeal for Christian unity. As he said in his inauguration Mass: “Let us do all we can to pursue the path toward unity!” His actual intent was to reach out “to all men and women of today, to believers and nonbelievers alike.” He sent greetings to the Jewish people, whom he said shared a joint spiritual heritage with Christians, and he even received an invitation from 130 Muslim scholars to dialogue with them about religion.
But his primary focus was to foster unity among all Christians. He realized how all Christians throughout the world were being persecuted by ever increasingly secular as well as fanatically religious governments which are attacking the basic Christian values of the sacredness of human life, the sanctity of monogamous marriage and the family, and religious liberty. In unity there will be strength!
http://www.ncregister.com/register_exclusives/christian_unifier/
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