DETROIT (WXYZ) — Catholics in metro Detroit are remembering former Pope Benedict XVI as a student and teacher of the catholic faith. He died Saturday at the age of 95.
“One distinctive characteristic he had was his ability to communicate very complex and profound truths in very clear language," Father Charles Fox with the archdiocese of Detroit said.
Teresa Tomeo, a longtime syndicated catholic talk show host, told 7 Action News many people who've commented on her facebook page have expressed sadness and gratitude.
"...grateful for his pontificate and for his humility because it was such an incredible thing for him to really step down from the papacy in recognizing that God was calling him to a life of more solitude and prayer," she explained.
Tomeo added, "It was a huge decision to step down. Something we had not seen in the likes of 600 years in the church.”
Fox said the 95-year-old’s legacy is of humble service to the truth.
“Pope Benedict considered himself a humble servant of the Word of God which means, first, we listen to God’s word and allow it to penetrate our hearts and our thoughts and to shape our thoughts and our words and our lives," he explained.
Fox continued, "And then we go forward to teach the Word of God.”
Tomeo said she had the privilege to be part of a small delegation of catholic women at an event in 2008 hosted by Pope Benedict. She said he expressed his support of women in the church.
“He talked about the fact that women should be able to serve however they feel necessary, whether they want to be in the home, whether they want to be in the world or both and that women shouldn’t feel chastised for maybe leaving home and raise their children for a short time or permanently and that women in the workforce needed the support they needed to be successful," she recalled.
According to the Vatican, Pope Benedict's funeral is scheduled for Thursday morning in St. Peters Square.
