Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger ) was born and baptised in his native Bavaria on Holy Saturday, 95 years ago, in 1927.
Pope Francis made a special visit to Pope Emeritus on April 13, Wednesday afternoon, to offer his best wishes for Easter and his 95th birthday.
Recalling his birth and baptism on a Holy Saturday, Pope Emeritus had written that “My life was thus immersed in the Paschal Mystery from the beginning in this way has always filled me with gratitude, for this could only be a sign of blessing.” He was elected as the 265th pope at the age of 78 on 19 April 2005.
In his memoir, published before his election as pope, he wrote: “The fact that the birthday was the last day of Holy Week and the eve of Easter was always noted in the family history because it was connected with the fact that I was baptised right on the morning of my birthday with the water that had just been consecrated in the Easter Vigil celebrated at that time in the morning. To be the first baptised with the new water was considered a significant providential event.”
“Admittedly — it was not Easter Sunday, but only Holy Saturday. But the longer I think about it, the more it seems to me to be in keeping with the essence of our human life, which is still waiting for Easter, not yet in full light, but confidently moving toward it.”
