Vatican, 3 January 2023 -- In the course of history, we may easily forget many outstanding personalities. Even many young Poles are not so aware of the figure of (Saint) John Paul II - Karol Wojtyla - any more. So this may happen also with the younger generation of the Salesian Family.
For the East Asian countries of the EAO region, Pope Benedict may be felt not very closely, since during his short Pontificate he never visited any country in this region. However for Oceania, the memorable WYD (World Youth Day) 2008 in Sydney was the largest gathering on Australian soil, and will be remembered for many years.
We treasure the 3 Encyclicals of Pope Benedict - Deus Caritas Est, Spes Salvi and Caritas in Veritate. And especially for the Asian and Chinese Catholic community his 'Letter to the Bishops, Priests, Consecrated persons and Lay faithful of the Catholic Church in the People's Republic of China' (2007) when he invited the Universal Church to pray on May 24 to 'Our Lady, Mary Help of Christians, of Sheshan', to be united in prayer with the Church which is in China.
We hope to treasure the life witness of the 265th successor of St Peter - simplicity, humility and courage, sense of humor, searching for God and his theological writings from 'The Introduction to the Christianity' to his trilogy 'Jesus of Nazareth'. His last words in this world are the best 'testament': 'I Love You, Lord!'
