Are you wondering what happened to Pope Benedict XVI ever since he stepped out of the limelight after he decided to resign in February 2013?
Pope Francis' predecessor recently granted a rare interview with the Italian newspaper La Reppublica, where he talked about his term as the Roman Catholic Church leader, his life after his resignation, and even his personal favourite saints.
Pope Benedict XVI said he has been happy and at peace since his resignation. He also reflected on the "smaller and larger difficulties" he encountered as pope, which he said he was able to overcome through the "many graces" borne out of the fact that he wasn't alone in his journey.
"From the beginning I was conscious of my limits and I accepted, as I have always sought to do in my life, in a spirit of obedience," Pope Benedict XVI said, as quoted by The Catholic News Agency.
"I realised that all I had to do I couldn't do alone and so I was almost forced to put myself in the hands of God, to entrust myself to Jesus, to whom, as I gradually wrote my volume on him (Jesus of Nazareth), I felt bound by an old and ever deeper friendship," he added.
The German former pontiff also shared how he prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary in times of hardships.
Aside from Jesus Christ and Mary, he also sought the intercession of his namesake, Saint Benedict, during times of need. He further shared how St. Augustine and St. Bonaventure, has always been his "travel companions for life" and "masters of the Spirit."
Pope Benedict also said that another saint that has been his close companion throughout his journey is St. Francis, whom he described as "the first to intuit that the world is the mirror of the creative love of God, from whom we come and toward whom we are journeying."
