Is Benedict XVI a Marian Pope?

[Louis_IX]

I can’t seem to dig up any thing on the new pope and what his Marian devotions are. All of the last century’s popes were considered Marian Popes - having some sort of great devotion.

Cardinal Ratzinger was the one who penned the Vatican’s “Message of Fatima” and many were very dissapointed on his interpretaion and comment on the role of Mary.

Is there need to be concerned ?

 

[BillyT92679]

I can’t seem to dig up any thing on the new pope and what his Marian devotions are. All of the last century’s popes were considered Marian Popes - having some sort of great devotion.

Cardinal Ratzinger was the one who penned the Vatican’s “Message of Fatima” and many were very dissapointed on his interpretaion and comment on the role of Mary.

Is there need to be concerned ?

I think he has a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin. I just think he is more reserved naturally, so you might not see the level of piety you saw with his Predecessors.

 

[Kyenta]

Pope Benedict XVI was very very close to John Paul II and I’m sure spiritually as well. John Paul II was deeply devoted to the Blessed Mother as she saved his life from the assassin. I feel that Pope Benedict is also devoted to her.

 

[Dr.Colossus]

Pope Benedict invoked the intercession of Mary in his first homily as Pope. I think, however, that we should not be so concerned as to whether or not BXVI has an overt devotion to the Blessed Mother. He has a manifestly evident devotion to Christ, and that is all that matters.

 

[stbruno]

Pope Urges Contemplation of Christ "With Mary’s Eyes"
Especially in Month of May

VATICAN CITY, MAY 2, 2005 (Zenit.org).- At the start of May, the month traditionally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, Benedict XVI invited the faithful to “contemplate Christ with Mary’s eyes.”

After addressing some 50,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray the Regina Caeli on Sunday, the Pope took up the legacy of Marian devotion left by his predecessor.

“With his words and even more so with his example, Pope John Paul II taught us to contemplate Christ with Mary’s eyes, valuing especially the prayer of the holy rosary,” he said.

In an interview with ZENIT, Discalced Carmelite Father Jesús Castellano Cervera, a consultor to the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, explained some of the characteristic features of the relationship between the new Pope and the Virgin Mary.

“In his first words, the Pope said with filial simplicity that Mary is always by our side,” Father Castellano said. “We must be very careful about the appropriate way to express ourselves about Mary. A synthesis of his thought is found in his book entitled ‘Mary’ …]. When John Paul II wrote the encyclical ‘Redemptoris Mater,’ Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, together with Hans Urs von Balthasar, wrote a beautiful introduction to read that text.”

“I see an interior ‘Marian profile’ in him, in his way of being and of receiving, of witnessing, an internalized and personalized Marian devotion,” added the professor of sacramental theology and spirituality at Rome’s theological faculty Teresianum.

Father Castellano added: “A Marian Pope is not only one who expresses an intense exterior Marian devotion, but also – and this is, perhaps, Benedict XVI’s characteristic – one who expresses a profound communion with the Mother of the Lord and of the Church, reliving her sentiments and attitudes, with a spiritual paternity which also has the Marian and maternal tone of a love that is respectful and friendly to all.”
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I think this clarifies your question exceedingly well. There is no doubt that Pope Benedict XVI loves our Blessed Mother.

 

[stbruno]

Pope Urges the Young to Learn Love of Christ From Mary

VATICAN CITY, MAY 4, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI encouraged young people in particular to learn the love of Christ from Mary.

The Holy Father gave that exhortation at the end of today’s general audience, the second of his pontificate, which gathered 15,000 pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.

“In this month of May, dedicated in a special way to the Mother of the Lord, I encourage you, dear young people, to enter the school of Mary to learn to love and follow Christ above all else,” the Pope said with a smile.

Benedict XVI, who spent considerable time at the start of the audience greeting sick persons seated in the front rows, gave them a message too.

“May the Virgin help you, dear sick people, to contemplate with faith the mystery of pain and to understand the salvific value of every cross,” he said.

Finally, the Holy Father addressed newlyweds, who arrived at the Vatican dressed in their wedding clothes.

“I commend you, dear newlyweds,” he said, “to the maternal protection of the Holy Virgin, so that you will be able to live in your family the atmosphere of prayer and love of the home of Nazareth.”
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