Bishop of Santa Rosa Diocese reflects on Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's legacy

After Pope Francis warned on Wednesday that former Pope Benedict XVI’s health was failing and that everyone should pray for him, Bishop Robert Vasa of the Santa Rosa Diocese said his prayer would be that the former pontiff would have a peaceful passing.

“We suffer a loss when people who we love pass, but it's their gain,” he said, Thursday, when Benedict was still alive. “My prayer would be to pray that he has a peaceful death … is what it would come to at this point.”

Benedict died Saturday at the age of 95, according to the Vatican.

Vasa said he didn’t know if Benedict, during his final days, was in any pain or suffering and he hoped that was not the case. He said the former pope’s condition has certainly greatly weakened in the last several years.

“He's a German and so there may be a stoic attitude there where he may have been in intense suffering and no one would ever know or communicate that because it's just how German or the Eastern Europeans generally deal with that, a little more stoic,” Vasa said.

Benedict appointed Bishop Vasa as coadjutor Bishop of the Santa Rosa Diocese in January 2011 and he succeeded as Bishop in June of that year. But Vasa said his appointment as Bishop of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon, by Pope John Paul II stands out a little more in his mind.

He said his “affection” for Benedict is derived more from who he was and what he has written, recalling Benedict’s first encyclical in 2005, Deus Caritas Est, “God is Love.”

“It's a beautiful encyclical and I’ve read it a half dozen times in the last 20 years simply because it brings out the beauty of Christian charity and the need to have a love of God at the heart of all that we do,” Vasa said.

Among critics, Benedict’s legacy is tainted by his handling of clergy abuse cases. Earlier this year, Benedict apologized to Catholic Church sex abuse victims. The apology came after the publication of a report on abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising, commissioned by the German Catholic Church.

The report faulted Benedict’s handling of four cases. Benedict, in his letter, acknowledged that errors and abuses took place during his time as archbishop of Munich and Freising.

“Once again, I can only express to all the victims of sexual abuse my profound shame, my deep sorrow and my heartfelt request for forgiveness,” Benedict said.

“I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church. All the greater is my pain for the abuses and the errors that occurred in those different places during the time of my mandate,” Benedict wrote. “Each individual case of sexual abuse is appalling and irreparable. The victims of sexual abuse have my deepest sympathy and I feel great sorrow for each individual case.”

Vasa said Benedict was a great scholar and some of his writings could be challenging but nonetheless “extremely rich and rewarding to contemplate and ponder.” Vasa said his fondest memory of Benedict was a one-on-one meeting with him in Rome about 15 years ago.

It was during the first Bishops’ visit to Rome a few years after Benedict was elected the 265th pope in 2005. Bishops take the trip to Rome every five or seven years, Vasa said. The brief meeting lasted maybe 30 seconds, he added.

“I just remember being extremely struck by the fact that here is the man who is responsible for the Church throughout the whole world and here I am standing before him and he treated me like I was the only person in the universe,” Vasa said.

“I was so edified by that and so taken, and I remember the clarity of that moment and of that feeling of profound support and encouragement from him personally, to me personally,” Vasa said. “It was just an incredible kind of gift, charisma that he has, that was very precious to me as I as I met him.”

Vasa, who called Benedict a true defender and teacher of the faith, said he plans to pen a message to local priests with some thoughts about the former pope. He expects sermons at local parishes will heed Pope Francis’ call for prayer.

“He has been authentically a true Defender of the Faith and a clear teacher of the faith, and so give thanks to God for having been alive at a time when Benedict was here to teach us,” Vasa said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.