© L'Osservatore Romano - Pope Francis and Benedict XVI

Francis' Address to Benedict for 65th Anniversary of Pope Emeritus' Priestly Ordination

‘You, Holiness, continue to serve the Church, do not cease to truly contribute with vigor and wisdom to her growth; and you do so from that small Mater Ecclesiae Convent in the Vatican, which reveals itself to be altogether something other than one of those forgotten corners in which the disposable culture of today tends to relegate individuals when, with age, their strength fails. It is altogether the opposite; and allow your Successor to say this forcefully, who chose to call himself Francis!’