THE CONCHO PADRE POST

Many of us who are my age and older will remember this one. Maybe it’s time to bring it back!
(both now for Benedict and then again for the new Pope, whenever he is chosen)

Long Live The Pope
(A Hymn for the Pope)

Long live the Pope!
His praises sound
Again and yet again:
His rule is over space and time:
His throne the hearts of men:
All hail! The Shepherd Pope of Rome,
The theme of loving song:
Let all the earth his glory sing
And heav’n the strain prolong.

Then raise the chant,
With heart and voice,
In Church & school & home:
“Long live the Shepherd of the Flock!
Long live the Pope of Rome!”
Almighty Father bless his work,
Protect him in his ways,
Receive his prayer, fulfill his hopes,
And grant him length of days!

The Concho Padre

One of the nuns that lived in the monastery where the Pope will retire says his choice shows his “great simplicity” because it “is not a work of art or comparable with other Vatican buildings.”

“His decision to retire has surprised me, but he is very brave, although he is fragile and elderly,” said the nun from the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, who requested anonymity because of her cloistered life.

“But this decision is proof that he has a very lucid mind,” she stated, adding that “our self love does not allow us to see our own limitations, contrary to what Pope Benedict has done.”

“If I loved him before,” she declared, “now I love him even more.”

The sisters led a simple life with no staff. They spent their time praying and, for their 400th anniversary, the nuns made making liturgical vestments for Pope Benedict to donate to poorer churches.

“One week before we left he asked us: ‘what will the Pope do without you?’ and he asked us to keep praying for him,” said the nun.

“His decision has made us cry, but he has been very brave,” she added.

The monastery, called Mater Ecclesiae, is 4,300 square feet and lies just west of St. Peter’s Basilica.

It contains a chapel, a choir room, a library, a semi-basement, a terrace and a visiting room that was added in 1993.

When Pope Benedict XVI announced on Feb. 11 that he was going to resign from the papacy and live in the convent, speculation began to circulate about when he made his decision, since renovations began in Nov. 2012.

According to the Spanish nun, who currently resides in a convent in Madrid, the building had not been refurbished in 18 years and needed minor repairs.

“We had humidity in the basement, the windows needed changing, and the terrace on top needed fixing and painting because of past snow,” she explained.

“But the building is very small, so they had to wait for us to leave to begin working on it.”

Reflecting on her experience living in the Vatican convent, the Visitation nun said she and her fellow religious felt intensely that they “were the heart of the Church.”

“It was an experience that is very hard to put into words.

Their mission was to pray for the Pope, for his trips, and accompany him in prayer on a daily basis.

The Spanish nun recalled how Pope Benedict would often thank them for their prayers and regularly checked up on their general well-being.

He originally wanted French nuns to live in the monastery, she explained, but due to the small number of vocations in France he decided it would be better to pick them from Spain.

The monastery was established in 1994 by Blessed John Paul II as a place dedicated solely to prayer for the Pope, his ministry and the cardinals.

The order of the Visitation of St. Mary was picked from among many other religious groups to live in the monastery from Oct. 7, 2009 until Oct. 7, 2012. 


Their stay was extended for 15 days and they left the monastery on Oct. 22, just after Bl. John Paul’s feast day.

The seven sisters all came from convents in Spain, but one was from Colombia and another from Equatorial Guinea.

EWTN News

Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, held a briefing for reporters on February 14, providing more information about plans for the retirement of Pope Benedict and the election of his successor. He revealed:

•Archbishop Georg Ganswein, who has served for years as the private secretary to Benedict XVI, will continue to live with the Pontiff after his retirement. However the archbishop, who was recently appointed as prefect of the pontifical household, will continue to serve in that role as well. The new Pontiff could, if he wished, select a replacement.

The Vatican will continue to provide security for the former Pontiff in his retirement. His household will still be served by members of the Memores Domini lay movement.

•Pope Benedict did suffer a minor injury to his head during his trip to Mexico last year. (This announcement was a confirmation of rumors that had circulated among Vatican-watchers for some time. It followed the disclosure a day earlier that the Pontiff had surgery to replace the battery in his pacemaker—again a confirmation of rumors.) However the injury was not serious, Father Lombardi said. It did not affect the Pope’s schedule during that foreign trip, and was not a factor in his decision to resign.

•The world’s cardinals will gather in Rome on March 1, the day after the Pope’s resignation becomes effective, to begin discussions on the future needs of the Church. All cardinals–including those who are over 80 and ineligible to vote in a papal election–can join in these discussions. Among other things, these early meetings will set a date for the conclave.

•Barring a death in the College of Cardinals, there will be 117 cardinal-electors eligible to vote in the papal conclave. There are currently 118 cardinal-electors, but one—Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, the retired Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, will celebrate his 80th birthday on February 26, and thus become ineligible to participate in the conclave. Two other cardinals could turn 80 before the conclave begins sometime in mid-March, but the rules of the conclave stipulate that a cardinal becomes ineligible only if he turns 80 before the papacy becomes vacant. Thus Cardinal Walter Kasper, the former president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, who will be 80 on March 5; and Cardinal Severino Poletto, former Archbishop of Turin, whose 80th birthday is on March 18, will be eligible to vote.

Vatican Information Service

Wednesday, Feb. 13, Ash Wednesday, also saw the Holy Father at a General Audience. During that time he explained to the faithful present his decision to resign from the Petrine office on Feb. 28, at 8:00 p.m. Rome time.

The Holy Father will have one more General Audience on Wed., Feb. 27. Next week he and the entire Vatican curia will be on Lenten Retreat. It is expected that most of the Cardinals will be present for his final General Audience.

Wednesday evening at St. Peter’s Basilica the Pope presided at the Ash Wednesday services. They were transferred from the usual venue of a procession from San Anselmo to Santa Sabina because of the large numbers of people expected due to the announcement of the Pope’s resignation.

In his homily, he spoke of humility and unity.

This constitutued the last public liturgical act of Benedict XVI.

Today, the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, the Holy Father met with the priests of the Diocese of Rome. This is an annual event, but this year also was an occasion for the priests of his diocese to bid the Holy Father good-bye. By all reports it was a very emotional meeting, and the Holy Father was a given a standing ovation several times during the visit. The Cardinal Vicar of Rome spoke on behalf of all the priests in wishing the Holy Father well, and in assuring him of their love, prayers and thanks for his pontificate. The Holy Father also assured the priests that they would be constantly remembered in his prayers after he leaves the Throne of Peter.

Altogether a difficult time for everyone — a time of sadness, but also a time of joy and thanksgiving.

We shall wait to see what comes next.

The Concho Padre

Luke 9:22-25

Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?”

The Roman Missal