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Pope celebrates 85th birthday

Published on 17 April 2012

Pope Benedict XVI has celebrated his 85th birthday – and has admitted that he has no idea what the future holds for him.  The Pontiff said, however, that he felt he was on the “last stretch” of his journey through life.  The Holy Father marked the occasion on Monday April 16 by celebrating Mass in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, which was attended by some Bavarian authorities and bishops.

In his homily, the Pope said: “I find myself on the last stretch of my journey in life, and I don’t know what is awaiting me.

“I know, however, that the light of God exists, that he is risen, that his light is stronger than any darkness and that God’s goodness is stronger than any evil in this world, and this helps me go forward with certainty.”

He also  spoke of the example two French saints – the Lourdes visionary Bernadette Soubirous, and the 19th century mendicant pilgrim Benedict Joseph Labre.

The Holy Father also focused on the significance of Holy Saturday – the day on which he was both born and baptised in 1927.

He said that Holy Saturday and St Bernadette should help Christians to focus on what was really essential in life through a simple gaze of the heart.

“Life becomes a real gift if along with it one can also make a promise that is stronger than any misfortune that can threaten one, if it is immersed in a force that guarantees that it is a good to be a person,” the Pope  said.