In memoriam: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

On Thursday, we bid arrivederci to the great Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. While he never visited the Philippines, his love for the country and the Filipino faithful was evident. We remember that he elevated both Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales and Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle to the College of Cardinals. He appointed then Palo Bishop Jose Palma to become Archbishop of Cebu and then Imus Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle to be Archbishop of Manila. He chose Cebu as the venue for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress. And most endearing of all, he canonized our second Filipino saint, St. Pedro Calungsod.

I remember attending the canonization of Pedro Calungsod in 2012 and noticing the red shoes that Pope Benedict XVI wore. But beyond the red shoes, what we should note is what ties the saint to the Pope: both were committed to catechism. St. Pedro Calungsod, at the young age of 17, was a catechist who, along with the Spanish Jesuit missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores, suffered religious persecution and martyrdom in Guam for their missionary work in 1672. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI, was president of the Preparatory Commission for the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which had presented the new Catechism to Pope John Paul II, and had been applauded as Father of Catechism of the Catholic Church.

With such brilliance and genius, one would wonder: What did he eat? What was his diet? Are there vegetables and herbs with extra nutrition that can give you that kind of intellect?

He famously drank Bavarian beer on his 90th birthday. He’s German, after all. But what was on his menu on a regular basis?

Apparently his diet was more wealthy than healthy!

I was happy to find out, in an interview on the online Catholic platform Dominus Est (DominusEst.PH) with Papal Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Charles John Brown, who had worked and traveled with Cardinal Ratzinger for over 10 years at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that the late Pope Emeritus loved sweets, specifically strudels. The late Pope Emeritus was Bavarian on the border of Austria, where the strudel was born (technically in the area formerly belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire).

Mom’s cooking

Meanwhile, the Vatican Cookbook by the Pontifical Swiss Guards notes another favorite dessert of his: Kirschenmichel, a very traditional German version of bread pudding. It has a bread base that is peppered with sour cherries and then soaked in a vanilla clove sauce after the cake is finished baking.

Eat Like A Pope notes that Pope Benedict XVI’s childhood diet, cooked by his mother, consisted of a very festive menu: soup with liver, onion dumplings, stuffed pigeon with butter, cream and sherry and “exquisite butter and jam biscuits.” How very Babette’s Feast! No wonder he was brilliant – he ate well!

This is because his mother not only ate well but cooked well. According to Chef Lidia Bastianich, who had cooked for Pope Benedict XVI for his papal visit to the United States in 2008, the late Pope Emeritus’ mom was a chef, or at the very least, according to Eat Like A Pope, certainly an “expert cook.” The book narrates that Maria (his mom) met Joseph Ratzinger Sr. (the his dad) by responding to an ad for a bride in 1920 with a requirement that only ‘expert cooks’ should apply! The book shares that mama Maria could cook goulash, hare cooked in lard and red wine, roast veal kidneys and veal cutlet in herbed butter. I would love to have dined at their home!

While it’s too late to aspire for that honor, I have had the pleasure of dining at the late Pope’s favorite haunt in Rome as Cardinal: Cantina Tirolese, a restaurant near the Vatican that has a German and Austrian menu. While I just had a sausage platter, now I know what to order if I get to dine there again. Third-generation restaurant owner Riccardo Macher recalled in an interview with the National Catholic Register that Cardinal Ratzinger liked to order a dish called frittatensuppe, a traditional German plate of beef broth with strips of something that resembles a French crêpe.

There is now a plaque at the restaurant where the revered theologian used to sit. Mario Notari, the restaurant’s long-time manager, shared in the same interview his witness of Ratzinger’s humor. Seeing a sign for a lost dog in the restaurant and noting that the photo showed a German shepherd, Cardinal Ratzinger quipped, “But I am not lost!” The theologian was often called the German Shepherd. If you find yourself in Rome, you can visit Cantina Tirolese at Via Giovanni Vitelleschi.

The world has certainly been blessed with the life of this great German Shepherd. With his advocacy for new evangelization (he established the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization in September 2010), he had brought back to the fold countless lost sheep! And thankfully, he will continue to help find lost sheep even beyond death, with the wisdom and love for Christ that burns brightly in his writings. May he continue to touch the hearts of many, especially future shepherds – German or otherwise – in the years, decades, eras to come.

Rest in peace, Pope Benedict XVI. Thank you for sharing your most blessed life with us. May the angels sound the trumpets and welcome you joyously into Paradise!

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