Youngstown.Bishop David J. Bonnar delivers the homily during the Mass for the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI Wednesday at the Cathedral of St. Columba...by R. Michael Semple

YOUNGSTOWN — The Most Rev. David J. Bonnar, bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown and principal celebrant for a diocesan Mass to pray for the deceased Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, reminded the faithful: “We are all pilgrims on a journey to heaven.”

Pope Benedict died Dec. 31 in a monastery in the Vatican at 95.

“We gather today in this church to mark the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict,” Bonnar said Wednesday at St. Columba Cathedral, 154 W. Wood St. “Of course, we are not alone in this prayer, for we are joined by the entire world, most especially the Church Universal, in these days of grieving in offering prayers and and thanks for such a holy man.”

The message touched upon interesting phases in the life of Benedict XVI, born in Bavaria and named Joseph, perhaps a foreshadowing of the life of humility he was called to embrace, Bonnar

noted.

Young Joseph had a brother who also would became a priest. He would enter the seminary at age 12. As a teenager, he was drafted but eventually deserted the army to continue his studies for the priesthood.

He was ordained a priest and become not only a professor of theology but a gifted theologian with one of the best minds in modern history, the bishop said. He was ordained a bishop, become the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and eventually be chosen pope only to retire at the age of 85 “to begin preparations for the final stage of his pilgrimage on earth,” the bishop continued.

Pope Benedict XVI was a prolific writer who established the first Catholic YouTube Channel for the Vatican and was the first pope to post on Twitter.

Also, the German pontiff not only promoted reception of the Holy Eucharist as a staple for life, but he also invited the church to behold the power and grace of adoration.

“I do not think it is a coincidence, but providence, that Pope Benedict’s death happened during the Synod on Synodality in which we are reminded of our shared pilgrimage. His final words as pontiff were: ‘I’m simply a pilgrim who is starting the last stage of his pilgrimage on earth.'”

Nor is it a coincidence, but sheer providence, the bishop continued, that Pope Benedict’s death “comes at the time of a Eucharistic Revival in our country when the power of this wondrous sacrament has been diminished and even disregarded. He loved the Eucharist, and it is believed that he spent his final stage of life in the silence and stillness of Adoration.

“May his death and our celebration of his life in this powerful ritual reawaken us to the grace of humility, remind us that we are all pilgrims on a journey to heaven, sustained by the food and presence of Holy Eucharist committed unwaveringly to being ‘cooperators of the truth,'” Bonnar said.

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