Vatican City, Sep 9, 2008 / 08:24 am
In a letter to Bishop Luciano Monari of Brescia marking the 30th anniversary of the death of Paul VI, Pope Benedict XVI said that as time passes, the contribution, heritage and magisterium of the late Pontiff, who guided the Church in an age marked by “challenges and problems,” are becoming increasingly more evident.
After sending his greetings to the Church in Brescia, from which Pope Montini received the gift of faith “and learned the values of piety, culture and humanity, the Holy Father noted that Paul VI “was called by Divine Providence to guide the Church during a historical period marked by no small number of challenges and problems.
In reflecting upon the years of his pontificate, Pope Benedict underscored "the missionary ardour that animated him and encouraged him to make demanding apostolic journeys, even to distant countries, and to perform acts of great ecclesial, missionary and ecumenical significance.”
"This Pontiff's name", he added, "remains linked above all to Vatican Council II. ... With the passage of the years the importance of his pontificate for the Church and for the world is becoming ever clearer, as is the priceless heritage of teaching and virtue which he left to believers and to all humanity." Benedict XVI told the Bishop of Brescia that,“The Lord desired that a son of the land of Brescia would steer the rudder of Peter’s barque during the council, in the years of his first activities.”