Immediately after the election of the German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Supreme Pontiff with the name of Benedict XVI, the Slovene bishops issued a brief statement in which they “thank God for his election and, in communion with the whole Slovenian Church”, express to the new Pope “filial devotion and the warmest good wishes in prayer to the Holy Spirit. May the Spirit guide his life and his ministry as supreme Pastor of the universal Church along the roads of the new evangelization of the contemporary world, so that the world may believe that God sent Jesus Christ, our Saviour, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We hope that the new Holy Father, like his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, may personally visit our country as soon as possible”.
