"The scent of the Pope’s faith, hope and love filled his home, filled Saint Peter’s Square, filled the Church and spread all over the world". It was said by the Pope in the homily at Mass, officiated in Saint Peter’s Square this afternoon for the second anniversary of the death of the "servant of God", the diocesan stage of whose beatification process ended today. "What happened after his death went on Benedict XVI for those who believe was the consequence of that ‘scent’ that reached everyone, close and afar, and attracted them to a man that God had progressively conformed to His Christ". A “servant of God”: this is how the Holy Father defined his predecessor, calling him "our father, brother and friend". "The Lord said the Pope called him to serve Him on the way of priesthood and opened him broader and broader horizons: from his Diocese through to the universal Church. This universal dimension reached its height at the time of his death, an event that the whole world lived with unprecedented sympathy". And "from the house of the Father ensured Benedict XVI he does not stop following the path of the Church" (continued).
