.- In
the written introduction for the new edition of John Paul II’s, “Memory
and Identity,” Pope Benedict XVI notes that the key word of the entire
thinking of the late Pope is “redemption,” a concept that in
existential terms means “mercy.”
Last weekend the
Italian daily Corriere della Sera published the prologue written by
Pope Benedict XVI for the new edition of last book of his predecessor,
in which the late pontiff reflected on the history of the 20th century
and on good and evil.
For Benedict
XVI, John Paul II’s book, which will be re-published on March 22,
brings together “some of the fundamental experiences of his life” and
gives readers a “glimpse of his interior biography.” He also
points out that his recollections of the Nazi occupation and the
Communist dictatorship of Poland reveal that John Paul II experienced
“very personally” the oppression and enslavement of his homeland.
In recalling
some of Karol Wojtyla’s reflections on the concept of redemption,
Benedict XVI states that this is “the key word to all of John Paul II’s
thought,” and he recalled that “his first programmatic encyclical
begins with the significant words ‘Redemptor hominis,’ thus becoming
‘the summary of his theological and anthropological vision’.”
The Pope also
underscored the references in the book to the Blessed Mother, “who was
so central in the spiritual life of John Paul II,” and her role as “the
bearer of memory.” “The memory of the Church is the point where
the conscience of humanity widens and touches our origins, the
foundations of our being;” because “where the past is not known, the
future is also lost in favor of an empty present,” Benedict XVI added.
The Pontiff
insisted that all of the different memories have their roots in the
common memory of humanity, “conserved in an excellent way in the memory
of the Church,” in which lies “the strength of peace and reconciliation
of humanity.”
Redemption key idea in John Paul II’s thought, says Pope Benedict
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