Archbishop Jason Gordon hailed Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI – who died on Saturday at age 95 – as one of the brightest European thinkers.
He was offering condolences in a Facebook post after learning of the passing of Benedict at his Vatican residence in Rome, Italy.
Gordon said, “He was very special in the history of our church. A great light and one of the brightest European thinkers in our time. He laid the intellectual foundations that Pope Francis continues to build upon. In TT, let us offer mass and pray today for the repose of his soul.”
In a video later Saturday evening, Gordon said, "He's a phenomenal man, a great light, an intellectual, a man of deep faith and deep conviction. He will be missed greatly."
Gordon said Benedict was considered one of the leading intellectual lights in Europe and the world and as Pope he displayed "profound leadership."
"In his people's statements, he really paved the way for us to really understand charity in a different and a more biblical way which he recovers the whole understanding of mercy and Pope Francis' papacy," he said.
He added that Benedict also brought to the front cyclical documents that contain the integral human development that was recovered from Pope Leo VI giving a new drive to develop each and every person.
Leela Ramdeen, chair of The Catholic Commission of Social Justice described Benedict XVI as, “One of our greatest theologians in our time.”
[caption id="attachment_993231" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Archbishop Jason Gordon at mass for the fifth anniversary of his installation has head of the local Catholic church at Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Port of Spain on December 27. - Photo by Sureash Cholai[/caption]
She said, “A lot of the news today is focusing on the scandals in relation to priest abuse and how he handled it. I think in his life, he did a lot of good and I am hoping that after 95 years on this earth and his contribution to the theology of our church that they will remember the good that he did.”
Ramdeen recalled meeting Benedict in 2009 while representing the Bishops of the Caribbean at the Vatican. She said this was the first international conference at the Vatican and theme was Life, Family and Development: The Role of Women in the Promotion of Human Rights.
“Afterwards, we had a private audience with him and listening to him and his concerns for family life and the breakup of the family, what we need to do when we go back to our respective countries to help build and strengthen family life,” said Ramdeen.
She said strengthening family life is one of the greatest challenges she and her team had to face and she repeated that she hopes people remember Benedict for the good he did like spearheading these conferences.
Ramdeen said she never got to have one-on-one interactions with Benedict, but she will always cherish being a part of the private audiences and shaking his hand.
“Most of the time we sat in our private audience in the big room at the Vatican and there were a lot of stairs,” she laughed,
