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Bishop Zubik recalls recent visit to Rome
archived from: 2013-03-08
by: William Cone

“An exceptionally emotional experience” during pope’s final days

Gathered on the roof of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Bishop David Zubik waved goodbye with students and faculty as the helicopter bearing Pope Benedict XVI swept across the skies on its way to Castel Gandolfo, where the pope will live until his Vatican apartment is ready.

“It was moving to see the helicopter come up behind the dome of St. Peter’s and then to make its last flight around the perimeter of Vatican City and to come straight across where we were,” the bishop said. “The students were there to wave the American flag, and they also had the Bavarian flag. It looked as though the pope saw us and was waving from the helicopter. But it was just a thrill to be able to demonstrate our gratitude.”

As he wrote recently in his “Bridging the Gap” column (Feb. 15), it was a happy coincidence that Bishop Zubik was in Rome Feb. 24-March 1. Six months earlier, he had planned to visit the eight seminarians and three priests who are studying there. Little did he know that the occasion would be Pope Benedict’s last days.

It was similar to his opportune visit in April 2005 that allowed him a “front-row seat” to history. He arrived in St. Peter’s Square in time to see the white smoke wafting from the Sistine Chapel, hear the bells toll and witness Pope Benedict’s first speech to the world.

“It was a sure gift of divine providence to be there for the pope’s first and last days,” he said.

The recent crowds in St. Peter’s Square for the pope praying the Angelus Feb. 24 and the general audience Feb. 27 were phenomenal, Bishop Zubik said. “Being there was an exceptionally emotional experience, and I think that helped all of us to be able to see how really special the church is to us who are part of it. It is an institution, but it’s much more. It’s a family. And as a family, we these days are terribly grateful to Benedict for the great leadership that he’s afforded us for the last eight years.”

It’s exciting to know that three native sons — Cardinals Daniel DiNardo, Sean O’Malley and Donald Wuerl — will vote in the conclave for the next pope, the bishop said.

He sees three important qualities that a modern pope should embody: • A genuine spirituality: “In the end, that’s what attracts people to great leaders. That’s what attracted people to John Paul II. That’s what attracted people to Pope Benedict, knowing that he was a very spiritual man.”

• A firm grasp of theology and administration, “but (he) has to know what this Year of Faith is all about, how to bring Jesus to a world that’s choosing to become more and more deaf and blind to the person of Christ.”

• A people person: “The days of looking at popes 50, 60 years ago who were basically a portrait on a wall is over with, and I think people appreciate knowing that the vicar of Christ, in the words of John Paul II, would go out to be with them, because not everybody can come to Rome, but the pope can go out all over the world.”

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