VATICAN City—Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday spoke of the joy of being a priest on the 60th anniversary of his ordination, saying the decades had gone by “amid so many experiences of one’s own frailty.”
The 84-year-old German pontiff appeared in high spirits, addressing thousands of faithful in Saint Peter’s Square with vigor despite the blazing summer heat and also thanking pilgrims who had come from his homeland.
Joseph Ratzinger was ordained on June 29, 1951, in Freising in the German state of Bavaria alongside his older brother Georg. Rare photos of the time, just six years after the end of World War II, show a grave young man.
In a homily on Wednesday the pope apologized to his listeners for going on about his own past, saying, “Perhaps I have spoken for too long about this.”
“But I felt prompted at this moment to look back upon the things that have left their mark on the last six decades,” he said.
“I felt prompted to address to you… a word of hope and encouragement, a word that has matured in long experience of how good the Lord is,” he added.
Ratzinger, a long-time Vatican insider, was elected pope in 2005.