Pope Benedict XVI's Last Words Before He Died: "Lord, I Love You!"

• A nurse who was near Pope Benedict XVI the day he died has disclosed that his last words were "Lord, I love you!"
• According to the nurse, the pope spoke in Italian with just a whisper of a voice, but in a clearly distinguishable manner
• Pope Benedict XVI, who died on on December 31, 2022, muttered the words at around 3am

At around 3am on December 31, 2022, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI breathed his last.

A nurse who was near him has recounted the last words she heard the priest say in the dead of the night hours before leaving the world to meet his maker.

Lord, I love you!

Vatican News reports that Benedict XVI's secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, recounted emotionally how the man of God spoke before leaving.

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"With just a whisper of a voice, but in a clearly distinguishable manner, said in Italian: 'Lord, I love you!" he said.

Gänswein admits that he was not there when the words were spoken, but the nurse told him after the Pope died.

He added that those were his last comprehensible words because he was not able to express himself again afterwards.

Pope said the words to seek Jesus

According to Gänswein, the clergyman said the words as his way of seeking Jesus, "the beloved" in his final moments.

That, he continued, was the distinguishing hallmark of Joseph Ratzinger's priestly service, as Pope Francis himself recalled in 2016.

During the definitive sermon, Pope Francis said that in one of the many beautiful passages Ratzinger had written on the priesthood, he emphasised the need for calling on Jesus.

This is in remembrance of how, before the crucifixion, Jesus fixed his gaze on biblical Simon and asked him one thing: 'Do you love me?'

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"It is here, as you go on to tell us, in that 'Do you love me?', that the Lord establishes the true meaning of shepherding, because only through love for the Lord will the Lord be able to shepherd through us," he said.

Benedict XVI served from 2005 to 2013

Pope Benedict XVI was a retired Catholic Church pope who served as the head of the church from 2005 to 2013.

He resigned on February 28, 2013, and had served after taking over the church's mantle of leadership from Pope John Paul II.

Pope Benedict became the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415 and spent his last days at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery within the Vatican.

Source: TUKO.co.ke