- Feb 5, 2002
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ROME (OSV News) — On Dec. 31, 2022, the Catholic world stopped as Pope Benedict XVI passed away on the last day of the year, leaving behind an enormous theological legacy. But it’s the everyday collaborators OSV News asked to share memories of the late pontiff, remembering a man full of charm, kindness and humor.
“Every morning at 6 a.m., he stood in the window of his bedroom in the Apostolic Palace and looked over the city, and I stood in the kitchen of my flat in front of the palace and waved to him. One day he noticed me and from then on he always raised his hand and waved back,” Demetrio Fortunati told OSV News.
Fortunati worked in the Vatican printing house for 42 years. He met Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the very beginning of the future pope’s Roman days — in 1982, the year Cardinal Ratzinger became prefect of the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith. Fortunati’s task was to bring the freshly printed newspaper L’Osservatore Romano to the prefect and later Pope Benedict. “Quite often I met him on Saturday afternoons when he went for his cardiological check-up at the Vatican clinic,” he said.
Continued below.
www.oursundayvisitor.com
“Every morning at 6 a.m., he stood in the window of his bedroom in the Apostolic Palace and looked over the city, and I stood in the kitchen of my flat in front of the palace and waved to him. One day he noticed me and from then on he always raised his hand and waved back,” Demetrio Fortunati told OSV News.
Fortunati worked in the Vatican printing house for 42 years. He met Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the very beginning of the future pope’s Roman days — in 1982, the year Cardinal Ratzinger became prefect of the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith. Fortunati’s task was to bring the freshly printed newspaper L’Osservatore Romano to the prefect and later Pope Benedict. “Quite often I met him on Saturday afternoons when he went for his cardiological check-up at the Vatican clinic,” he said.
Continued below.
The holy truth about Pope Benedict XVI from behind the scenes in the Vatican
The everyday collaborators of Pope Benedict share memories of the late pontiff, recalling a man full of charm, kindness and humor.
www.oursundayvisitor.com
