Pope Benedict XVI praised at memorial Mass

Pope Benedict XVI was hailed Friday at a memorial Mass at St. Agnes Cathedral as a brilliant theologian and humble leader who held the Roman Catholic Church together during divisive times.

Several hundred people filled the cathedral in Rockville Centre a day after Benedict’s funeral Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Benedict, who became pope emeritus after stepping down from his role as pope in 2013, died Dec. 31 at 95.

“The world needed Pope Benedict XVI,” Bishop William Murphy, the retired head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, said in a homily at the Mass. “It need not to forget him now.”

“All of those who knew him … could and did testify to his true character, his humility, his gentle and holy demeanor, his sensitivity to others matched to his commitment to seek the truth,” Murphy said. 

Irene Muhs, a parishioner at St. Kilian’s in Farmingdale, said she traveled to Rockville Centre for the 10 a.m. Mass to honor Benedict.

“He was so brilliant and so holy,” she said.

A fellow parishioner, Bill Weiss, said Benedict was able to “pull together” the church at a time when it was facing multiple challenges.

“He was brilliant but he was also humble,” Weiss said.

He recalled being in the crowd at St. Peter’s Square in Rome one Wednesday when Benedict greeted the faithful. “He was so gracious to people,” Weiss said. “He was so peaceful.”

Bishop John Barres, head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, celebrated the Mass on Friday.

In an interview afterward, he said that both Benedict, who grew up in Nazi Germany, and Pope Saint John Paul II, who grew up in communist Poland, knew the kind of evil that wicked ideas can produce.

Benedict “understood that ideas have consequences in history,” Barres said. “He saw very clearly that ideas that are false can do horrific damage.”

Both popes “really realized that the splendor of Catholic truths … are liberating to all human beings,” he said. 

Clergy: Some misunderstood him

Murphy told the faithful that those who dubbed Benedict “God’s Rottweiler” and depicted him as a “despotic German misanthrope,” for his reputation of fiercely enforcing church orthodoxy, misunderstood him.

He recalled how John Paul II’s first trip abroad was in 1979 to Mexico, where he met with bishops from Latin America, where “Liberation Theology” was spreading rapidly among progressive priests and many of the poor.

Liberation Theology encouraged people to take social action based on Gospel values but was criticized by some for employing Marxist analysis of social inequities and becoming involved in politics.

Not long after, John Paul II appointed then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany as prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith — a post he used to reel in some of leading proponents of Liberation Theology.

Murphy said that Ratzinger, following the lead of John Paul II, was able to identify the “positive elements” of Liberation Theology, such as focusing on the poor and justice, while also targeting the “questionable passages that needed to be rethought.”

“This again was an example of the brilliance of the mind of Joseph Ratzinger,” Murphy said.

Others in the church have criticized Ratzinger’s approach, saying he tried to crush a movement aimed at social justice in regions plagued by stark economic inequities. Ratzinger took the name of Benedict when he became pope in 2005.

Differing views on handling of crisis

Benedict’s record on the clergy sex abuse scandal also got mixed reviews from the faithful. Some said he did little to reform the church, while others contended that as pope he helped to resolve the crisis.

In his homily, Murphy said, “The church is a better church because of him, his concern for the abused and his efforts to rid the church of that ‘filth.’”

Barres also agreed that Benedict made strides in handling one of the worst crises in the church’s history.

“He was right in the middle of the Vatican and the dialogue between the American bishops coming to a zero-tolerance policy,” Barres said. “In the best way that he could, he led dimensions of church reform that last to this day.”

But John Salveson, who as a teenager was sexually abused by a priest at St. Dominic parish in Oyster Bay starting in 1969, said Benedict fell short.

“I think Benedict was completely overwhelmed by it and out of his league,” Salveson said. “He was just a huge disappointment.”

While Benedict was not the “architect” of the scandal, “he didn’t really make anything meaningful happen” as pope, Salveson said. 

Despite that debate, the faithful at Friday’s Mass said Benedict was an inspiration to them that they will carry going forward.

Claudette Richardson, of Rockville Centre, said she prays to Benedict and John Paul II every day.

“He’s the pope. I respect that,” Richardson said. “Those are the good guys.”

Barres recalled how he had a brief, silent encounter with then-Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome in the late 1990s.

Barres was leaving the Pontifical North American College, or seminary, one night, heading down a hilly street while Ratzinger was heading up it on the other side after a long day of work at the Vatican.

“We had this moment where we just looked across the street at one another and I’ll never forget, he gave me this moment of just this peaceful greeting and radiance,” Barres said. “We both bowed. Then he went up the hill and I went down the hill.”

While the encounter was brief, it “showed the spirit of this man, the gentle humility with this unbelievable” intellectual, theological and pastoral giant, he said.