Pope closes 2005 with look back to John Paul

By Phil Stewart

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict gave 2005 a
bitter-sweet farewell on Saturday as he looked back at the year
that saw him elected to lead the Catholic Church after the
death in April of John Paul II.

At his first “Te Deum” service of year-end thanksgiving,
Benedict praised deepening dialogue with those of other faiths
but he restated his concern that the traditional Christian
family was in crisis.

The 78-year-old German-born Pope recalled a June 6 speech
in which he condemned same-sex unions as fake and expressions
of “anarchic freedom” that threatened the future of the family.

He had also condemned divorce, artificial birth control and
trial marriages.

“The family has always been at the center of attention of
my revered predecessors, in particular John Paul II,” Benedict
said during the vespers, or evening service, at St. Peter’s
Basilica.

“He was persuasive and maintained on many occasions that
the crisis of the family constitutes a serious detriment to our
own civilization … I, too, have wished to offer my
contribution.”

The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano published a
preview of its New Year’s day edition, with a front-page story
entitled “A shared path, a look to the future,” describing 2005
as a bridge between the two pontificates.

It recalled that John Paul had once called then-cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger “a trusted friend,” and how the two men were
wholly dedicated to the Church.

At the ceremony, the Pope looked back to John Paul and gave
thanks to a year “rich with events” for the world’s 1.1 billion
Roman Catholics.

“My thoughts go, with profound and spiritual feeling, to 12
months ago when, like this evening, the beloved Pope John Paul
II spoke for the last time for God’s people to give thanks to
the Lord for the many benefits given to the Church and to
humanity,” he said.

Benedict added that “it now falls on me” to give thanks at
the end of 2005 and at the eve of 2006.

The Pope will lead a mass on Sunday, marking the New Year
and the Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace. The next major
event on the Pope’s Christmas calendar is a mass on the Feast
of the Epiphany on January 6.

In early January, the Pope also is due to publish his first
encyclical, a major writing addressed to all Church members.
The encyclical deals with the individual’s personal
relationship with God.