Rorate Caeli

FSSP and a farewell to the Pope

From the General House of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, as reported by the French District:

On this Ash Wednesday, the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter had the occasion to express to the Supreme Pontiff their profound gratitude and their prayers through the voice of one of their priests, Fr. Martin Ramm, who was able to greet the Pope in the name of all his congregation. Our fellow member, received on the occasion of the public audience by His Holiness, came to deliver to him, as a sign of filial homage and in recognition for the promulgation of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, the new edition of the traditional Roman Missal recently printed by the Fraternity of Saint Peter.

With humility and courage, Benedict XVI has been - for eight years - at the helm of the barque of Peter, facing many storms, concern with leading souls to safe harbor. Giving the example of a deep interior life, he has refocused the attention of the Catholic faithful on the foundations of the faith, alerting them to all forms of relativism, and explaining the recent Magisterium in the light of Tradition. Concerned with the restoration of sacredness, he reconciled the Roman Church with her bimillennial liturgical heritage. A tireless apostle for ecclesial unity, he engaged, in particular, in dialogue with the Society of Saint Pius X, with a view to reaching full reconciliation. This concern of the Pope is particularly dear to us, and recalls the care which he brought to our foundation in 1988, when he aided John Paul II as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.