Notre Dame president mourns passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
The University of Notre Dame’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., expressed his sorrow at the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died today (Dec. 31) in Vatican City at age 95.
“Notre Dame joins the Church and the world in mourning the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict,” Father Jenkins said. “At once a luminous scholar and a devoted laborer in the vineyard of the Lord, Pope Benedict gave witness to the complementarity of faith and reason for a world which so often misunderstands both.
“His first major written teaching as Pope reminded us that God is love, and through his remarkable and lifelong devotion to the Church, he gave us all an example of the love a good pastor must have for the people of God.
“I pray in thanksgiving for Pope Benedict’s life and I hope that he will intercede for us from Heaven.”
Father Jenkins met briefly with Pope Benedict on Feb. 1, 2006, following a general audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall that included some 50 Notre Dame Trustees, administrators and their spouses. The Pope shook hands with Father Jenkins and called Notre Dame a “great Catholic university.” The University’s president thanked the Pope and said, “Keep us in your prayers.”
Father Jenkins was among the more than 300 Catholic education leaders who attended an address by the Pope on April 17, 2008, at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
“It was a warm and gracious address that emphasized the value of Catholic education,” Father Jenkins said at the time. “It was a very positive experience. There was an expression of gratitude and appreciation for everyone in the room involved in Catholic education. He spoke of education as being central to the life of the Church, and, of course, that is what Notre Dame is all about. It was a great affirmation of our central mission.”
Notre Dame’s relationship with Pope Benedict began in the 1960s when the University’s then-president, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., offered a faculty position to then-Father Joseph Ratzinger, a German theologian.
“I was searching around the world for an up-and-coming theologian,” Father Hesburgh said in an interview with the South Bend Tribune soon after Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope. He wrote a letter of invitation to the young cleric, inviting him to join the faculty for a year or permanently.
“He wrote back, ‘I’d love to come, but I don’t think my English is good enough yet,’” Father Hesburgh said.
The death knell rang at the University's Basilica of the Sacred Heart for 15 minutes this morning. In addition, a photo of the Pope Emeritus and a condolences book are in place in the basilica.
Latest ND News Wire
- Doug Thompson appointed inaugural executive director of diversity and engagementDoug Thompson, current vice president for equity and inclusion at Gustavus Adolphus College, has been appointed as the inaugural executive director of diversity and engagement in the University of Notre Dame’s Division of Student Affairs, effective July 1.
- Eleven Notre Dame students, alumni awarded NSF Graduate Research FellowshipsA dozen current or former University of Notre Dame students have been awarded National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships, with an additional nine singled out for honorable mention for the award.
- Sen. Todd Young, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan visit Notre Dame to discuss critical investments in science and technologyOn Thursday, April 25, Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), joined U.S. Senator Todd Young in a visit to the campus of the University of Notre Dame. The pair met with faculty, students and University leaders and discussed how research and innovation can drive better policymaking, grow the local economy and contribute to national security.
- Alumni Association set to hold second annual Notre Dame Global Day of ServiceThis Saturday (April 27) the Notre Dame Alumni Association will host the second annual Notre Dame Global Day of Service — a day to mobilize the Notre Dame spirit of service and serve those most in need in communities around the world.
- Alumni Association presents annual spring awardsThe University of Notre Dame Alumni Association recognized a number of distinguished alumni and staff during its annual spring board meeting. The association presents awards throughout the year that fall into six broad categories, each representing an area in which the University encourages excellence: the arts, athletics, service to the Alumni Association, service to country, service to humanity and service to the University.
- Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz addresses inequality with a people-centered economyInequality is a policy choice — not an inevitable outcome — and can be addressed through economic approaches that prioritize human dignity, economist and Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz said during a recent visit to the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs.