Following the announcement of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, I was asked if I knew or had ever met him. There are approximately 5,600 bishops in the Catholic Church. That number limits contact with the Holy Father.
The principal contact for a bishop is the Papal Nuncio, who is the representative of the Holy Father to a particular Church. When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was chosen by the cardinal electors as the Bishop of Rome, I was familiar with him through his theological writings. During his papacy, on a couple of occasions, I had limited personal contact with Pope Benedict.
In late Summer of 2007, Cardinal Edward Egan, the Archbishop of New York, whom I served as Vicar General, returned from a meeting in Rome. The next day, he summoned his senior staff to inform us that Pope Benedict would be coming on an apostolic visitation to the United States in the Spring of 2008. The Pope would spend three days in the Archdiocese of New York in honor of our bicentennial celebration of the erection of the Diocese of New York in 1807. Preparations for that visit would occupy much of my time for the next six months.
Shortly after Labor Day 2007, the events identified for the papal visit to New York were accepted by the Holy See. I was assigned certain responsibilities for three of them. A large team from the Archdiocesan staff was organized; an event planner was hired, and weekly meetings for six months were calendared for the coordinating committee. Among the events at which I had duties were a Mass with priests and religious in the Cathedral of Saint Patrick, a youth event at the Archdiocesan seminary in Yonkers and an ecumenical prayer service for Christian leaders in the Metropolitan Area.
The Organizing Team met weekly, and the details of each event were reviewed and agreed upon. Representatives from the Vatican, the federal government, the City of New York, nearby Catholic dioceses, state and city police departments and the Archdiocese were involved in putting together the three-day program.
I accompanied Cardinal Egan when he closed the deal with the New York Yankees Organization to use Yankee Stadium (the old stadium) for the Papal Sunday Mass. This required the permission of the baseball commissioner because a change in the baseball calendar was involved. George Steinbrenner, who was then the owner of the New York Yankees, had only one request of the Cardinal: His family would be the first to greet the Holy Father when he arrived at the stadium, to which His Eminence agreed. There was no charge for the use of the stadium through the generosity of the Steinbrenner family. The Archdiocese assumed the costs of building the altar and appropriately decorating the stadium to give it a “churchy” look.
Saint Patrick’s Cathedral was filled with nearly 3,000 priests and religious for the Mass. A few weeks prior, it had been scaffolded, but the government agencies ordered the scaffolding to be taken down. (Talk about expenses!!!) I accompanied then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the sanctuary to greet the assembled folks and then onto Fifth Avenue to welcome the Pope. The excitement of the participants, the glorious music and the brilliant homily of the Pope made that Mass a very uplifting experience for the religious and priests who attended.
Mass was followed by lunch for Pope Benedict in the Cardinal’s Residence with the bishops of New York State. Much to my surprise, when we took our seats, I was seated across from the Holy Father. On my left sat Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone, and His Eminence Cardinal Egan sat to the right of the Holy Father. The meal began with a champagne toast to the Holy Father offered in impeccable Latin by Cardinal Egan.
To get table conversation going, the Cardinal asked me to explain to Pope Benedict a project I was involved with as Vicar General – Making All Things New, a program of reorganization of parishes throughout the Archdiocese. The Holy Father listened intently and asked what I encountered as the work proceeded. He understood the emotions of some of the faithful when parishes to be closed were identified, and he referred to the need for the church to do careful pastoral planning in order to best serve people and to grow. As I listened and looked at the Vicar of Christ across the table speaking to me, I could not help but think what my Irish mother would have to say about her son eating lunch and speaking with the “Pope of Rome” (her expression).
Later that afternoon, I was on the stage with the Holy Father at the youth rally, which was a lively gathering of some 20,000 youth. I have learned since that some of our Camden priests were in that crowd as seminarians and representatives from parish youth groups.
We had erected two large ramps, much to the dislike of some of the Vatican planning team. I was told that by having the Holy Father walk those ramps, I was making him like a “rock star,” which was not a papal image they wanted to project. My thinking was that image would get a response from the gathered youth. Pope Benedict received such raucous adulation from the young people as he walked down the ramps that he did it not once but twice to the delight of the screaming young masses. I recall turning to one of his advisors who had vehemently opposed the ramps and boldly saying, “I told you so!!!” It was evident from the gleam in the Pope’s eyes and the beaming smile on his face that he loved that event and made a connection with American youth.
In 2011, the New York bishops went on the Ad Limina visit to the Holy See. Every five years, these visits are organized for the world’s bishops with various Vatican Congregations and with the Pope. Basically, it is to report on the state of each local church. We were there during Thanksgiving week, and Pope Benedict had just returned to Rome from a grueling visit in Africa.
Our Archdiocesan group, Cardinal Dolan and the four auxiliary bishops went in for our “time with the Pope.” Despite his obvious tiredness, he listened intently as each of us gave our presentations. I was asked to provide a briefing on immigration in the Archdiocese. When I finished, the Holy Father asked what my reorganization program had uncovered about some of the needs of the emerging immigration into the Archdiocese. His question blew my mind. He recalled a table conversation with me from three years ago!
Cardinal Dolan asked me to speak about the Asian immigration, particularly the Chinese, among whom I ministered as Pastor of Saint Teresa on the lower east side of Manhattan. The Holy Father spoke with concern for the Church in China and the potential that China represents for evangelization. He asked me to say something in Mandarin. I was flabbergasted, as I had not used my limited Mandarin since my transfer from Saint Teresa’s. I said in Mandarin, “God bless you,” to which he responded, “Amen.” I thought to myself, “Stupid, the Pope blesses you; you don’t bless the Pope!”
On the vigil of my installation as the Bishop of Camden in February of 2013, a press conference was scheduled to introduce me to South Jersey. However, that press conference focused on the announcement that came from the Vatican that morning. Pope Benedict announced his resignation as the Bishop of Rome. The Holy Father trumped my appointment!
So, yes, I did meet Pope Benedict, and in those brief encounters experienced a concerned father and an inquisitive man of the Church.
At our recent diocesan Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict’s eternal rest, I said the following: “As the 265th successor of Peter the Apostle, Pope Emeritus Benedict well-served the Church. His vast writings in theology will instruct and influence people for centuries to come. His series “Jesus of Nazareth” represents the best in biblical theology. His warnings about the dangers of an ever-increasing relativism, which does not recognize anything as certain, deserve our attention and consideration. His concern that Western civilization is abandoning both moral truths and the presence of the transcendent are more and more obvious and relevant.”
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D.
Bishop of Camden