Reading a story in the Vatican News about Pope Benedict XVI and his love for Africa, I was struck by the accompanying picture of Benedict XVI with his friend Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, former Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and former Dean of the College of Cardinals. Much beloved by my dear friend Cardinal Gantin, Pope Benedict was a wise professor, a humble and honest man, he was a great pope and the right man to follow Pope John Paul II in the Petrine Office.
When my time as a Swiss Guard began, Cardinal Ratzinger was “only” the Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. And yet, even back in the day, everyone at the Vatican knew Cardinal Ratzinger and had their own encounters with this very soft-spoken, gentle, shy man. He was a man of habit, crossing St. Peter’s square four times every day as he walked back and forth from his apartment at the Borgo, never denying a gentle word for pilgrims.
My last encounter with Cardinal Ratzinger was the day before the conclave that elected him began. Pope Saint John Paul II’s funeral had been a few days before. I was at the Vatican having lunch with Cardinal Gantin who was in town for the funeral. Cardinal Gantin, who had become my close personal friend during my years as a Swiss Guard, did not enter the Sistine Chapel during the 2005 conclave because of his age.
Ratzinger and Gantin were created cardinals in the same consistory, on June 27, 1977. It was the final consistory of Paul VI. Gantin once told me, “For me it was an honor to be created a cardinal by the great Pope Paul VI together with great men like Giovani Benelli, Joseph Ratzinger, Mario Luigi Ciappi, and Frantisek Tomasek.
In an interview after Pope Benedict’s election Gantin said, “His name is Benedict, but for me he is also Bene-dato (well-gifted) to the Church of Jesus. He is a man of superior culture. But above all he is a man of great faith and great piety; he is a man of prayer.” That of Benedict XVI, he predicted, “will be a sober, simple, direct pontificate, focused on the essential.” Prophetic words which served to confirm for me the greatness of the humble cardinal from the CDF.
So there I sat, with Cardinal Gantin, in the dining hall of the Preseminario in the Palazzo San Carlo. I was showing him some family pictures when there was a knock at the door and in came Cardinal Ratzinger. Seeing we were having lunch,
he immediately apologized and said he would return later to speak with Cardinal Gantin. Since we were just finishing our meal, he asked Cardinal Ratzinger to join us, which he did.
He sat down and we exchanged a few words while eating a “cantuccio” cookie that Cardinal Ratzinger dunked in my vin santo. During that informal moment I re introduced myself and we reminisced about two conversations we had shared during my time of service at the Vatican, one about the unique brewing process of Bavarian beer and the other about the Mozart Piano Concerto No 21.
During our conversation, we started talking about the qualities and the virtues the next pope needed to have; Cardinal Gantin said that, according to him, the new pope had to have discipline accepting God’s will in all His manifestations, warmth because the grace of God is the source of authentic joy, and generosity in giving oneself freely and enthusiastically for Christ and never measuring the efforts. Cardinal Ratzinger agreed and added that the new pope had to love the Truth at all costs, even when it meant suffering!
Once Cardinal Ratzinger left the room, I immediately asked Cardinal Gantin if I had just spoken with the future Pope. With a huge smile he laughed and just shook his head saying, “Ah…Mario!” He couldn’t say yes, because it is the Holy Spirit who chooses, but it was almost a yes!
I know Cardinal Gantin and Pope Benedict XVI will join the communion of Saints someday. What they taught me is that, when we face frustration, we need to recall that we have the power to triumph over sin because we are courageous men and women.
And as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once told me, we are courageous because we have Christ’s grace within us. In other words, we have the innate capacity to be victorious, but we must renew our struggles with the help of our Lord and Savior.
M. Enzler
Founder of Borromeo Project Inc.
Author of I Served a Saint
