Edmonton, Canada, Jan 1, 2023 / 14:00 pm
Tributes for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI have poured in from leaders of the Canadian Catholic community following the former pontiff’s passing on Dec. 31 at his residence at the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery.
Cardinal Thomas Collins, the archbishop of Toronto, hailed the former pope as a model of inspiring discipleship and theological wisdom.
“Throughout the Archdiocese of Toronto, we join in mourning the loss of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI,” Collins wrote. “We give thanks for his years of faithful, thoughtful, and inspiring service to the Church. As a priest for more than 70 years and in his time as bishop and supreme pontiff, Pope Emeritus Benedict offered each one of us a personal example of fidelity and of what it is to be a devoted disciple of Jesus.
“As a theologian, he followed in the footsteps of the great St. Augustine in offering to us profound insight into the mysteries of our Christian faith, insight arising by God’s grace not only from his astonishing intellect and learning but also from his personal holiness and pastoral care for God’s people; his writings will help guide disciples of Jesus in the centuries that lie before us.”