Totus Tuus - Totus 2us

Papa Bene, We Love U2!

Following in the footsteps of Blessed John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI is also greatly loved by young people.

_{On this podcast, people share their stories – what it is about Papa Benedetto that they love so much, how his life has encouraged them, and which of his words particularly inspire them.}

_{With many thanks to Amanda Vernon for the gift of her music. You can subscribe to this podcast / download the free mp3s here on itunes or here on Totus2us's web feed. Plus, you can download individual mp3 recordings by right clicking where you see this diamond ♦}

Papa Benedetto, Doug loves you!       ♦

_{10) Doug, who's 22 & from the United States, is currently studying in Rome and has been reading a lot more by Pope Benedict (eg his interview with Peter Seewald in Light of the World). This Christmas Doug served for BXVI at Midnight Mass at St Peter's: "It was a very powerful experience ..filled with grace. Just seeing the man, who is old and fragile, this man who the Lord entrusted the Church with, through Peter, Pope Benedict still has the same duties given to Peter: he's given the keys of the Church, he's the rock on which our Church is built, and that strong, central figure of the Catholic Church was incarnate in Pope Benedict and for me it was just good to see that and to see him."}

Papa Benedetto, Charles loves you!       ♦

_{9) Charles, who's 19 & from England, is most struck by Benedict XVI's fatherliness and his continual encouragement that if every person is called to holiness, then every person is called to become a saint: "I think what Pope Benedict has shown us is in his papacy is that he is a father, a father to each and everyone of us. And that he is a Pope who touches individuals and who is capable through his preaching and his words to touch the innermost soul of each and every person and to awaken in them a desire to change and a desire to move forward in their spiritual life, to go forward hopefully on the path to sainthood."}

Papa Benedetto, Erin-Thérèse loves you!       ♦

_{8) Erin-Thérèse, who's 28, from the USA & 1 of the Totus2us team, talks about how her trip in 2007 to Rome for Easter Sunday in St Peter's Square had a huge impact on her and her husband:}

_{"That moment, that Easter, had its trajectory in our eventual conversion to the Catholic faith. Pope Benedict has been there every step of the way for us, offering us a Holy Father whom we could respond to and relate to in some degree because his vision about where the Church is and where it needs to go is so clear, because he is this man of great faith and great intellect and he shows that these two things, far from being mutually exclusive, go hand in hand together. So I think he is the Pope that we need right now, the one who understands the challenges we face and the really urgent need for reevangelism."}

"My dear brothers and sisters, Christ is risen." - BXVI

Papa Benedetto, Ruth loves you!       ♦

_{7) Ruth, 1 of the Totus2us team, talks about Cardinal Ratzinger's close friendship with John Paul II; about his writings as Pope Benedict: his Letter to the Catholics of Ireland, his great encyclicals on Love, Hope, and Charity and Truth, and his book, 'Jesus of Nazareth'.}

_{"Faith, hope and charity go together. Hope is practised through the virtue of patience, which continues to do good even in the face of apparent failure, and through the virtue of humility, which accepts God's mystery and trusts him even at times of darkness. Faith tells us that God has given his Son for our sakes and gives us the victorious certainty that it is really true: God is love! It thus transforms our impatience and our doubts into the sure hope that God holds the world in his hands and that, as the dramatic imagery of the end of the Book of Revelation points out, in spite of all darkness he ultimately triumphs in glory. Faith, which sees the love of God revealed in the pierced heart of Jesus on the Cross, gives rise to love. Love is the light - and in the end, the only light - that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. Love is possible, and we are able to practise it because we are created in the image of God. To experience love and in this way to cause the light of God to enter into the world - this is the invitation I would like to extend with the present encyclical." - BXVI - from his encyclical Deus Caritas Est}

Papa Benedetto, Niamh loves you!       ♦

_{6) Niamh, who's 25 and from England, loves Pope Benedict XVI for all that he teaches, and most especially because she has found that at the heart of everything he says is his call to a real, authentic friendship with Christ.}

_{"Try each day to follow Christ’s word. Listen to him as a true friend with whom you can share your path in life. With him at your side, you will find courage and hope to face difficulties and problems, and even to overcome disappointments and set-backs." - BXVI - from his Message for the 26th World Youth Day (in Madrid 2011)}

_{(Niamh is on the right in the photo, outside Lambeth Palace, during BXVI's visit to London)}

Papa Benedetto, Anthony loves you!       ♦

_{5) Anthony, an Indian expat working in Dubai, highlights the universality of the Church - what it is to be Catholic - and the gift of the Papacy, because the Papacy was instituted by Christ himself. He started admiring the Cardinal Ratzinger's humility when he read about him just before the Papal Election in 2005 and in Benedict XVI has discovered a great teacher. Anthony ends by encouraging the young people of the UK not to be afraid of receiving the Holy Father with open arms during his papal visit, as they will witness history in the making: Pope Benedict is not coming as a politician but he is bringing Christ to us.}

_{"God takes nothing away from those who give themselves to him. On the contrary, he gives them everything. He comes to draw out the best that is in each one of us, so that our lives can truly flourish." - BXVI}

_{If you'd like to download (free) copies of the Pope posters or see the Catholic T-shirts Anthony has designed, visit his blog.}

Papa Benedetto, Father Martin loves you!       ♦

_{4) Father Martin, a priest from the archdiocese of Birmingham in England, recalls the days leading up to Cardinal Ratzinger's election and inauguration as Pope Benedict XVI. His quote is from Papa Benedetto's homily:}

"If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation. And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ!" - BXVI at his Inauguration Mass

_{Sunday, 24th April 2005 (which you can read in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish)}

Papa Benedetto, Frankie loves you!       ♦

_{3) Frankie is from Manchester, England, and is one of the Totus2us team. He talks about having been with Pope Benedict at World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney.}

"Love is the light." - BXVI

Papa Benedetto, Vincent loves you!       ♦

_{Vincent, who's 25 and from Britain, was first inspired by Cardinal Ratzinger when, as Dean of College of Cardinals, he gave the homily at the Mass "for the election of the Roman Pontiff" in St. Peter's Basilica, before the conclave of Cardinals, (which went on to elect him as the new Pope on 19th April 2005).}

_{"How many winds of doctrine we have known in these last decades, how many ideological currents, how many fashions of thought? The small boat of thought of many Christians has often remained agitated by the waves, tossed from one extreme to the other..} 

_{Every day new sects are born and we see realized what St. Paul says on the deception of men, on the cunning that tends to lead into error. To have a clear faith, according to the creed of the Church, is often labeled as fundamentalism. While relativism, that is, allowing oneself to be carried about with every wind of "doctrine," seems to be the only attitude that is fashionable. A dictatorship of relativism is being constituted that recognizes nothing as absolute and which only leaves the "I" and its whims as the ultimate measure." - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger} 

_{(and Cardinal Ratzinger continued: "We have another measure: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. "Adult" is not a faith that follows the waves in fashion and the latest novelty. Adult and mature is a faith profoundly rooted in friendship with Christ. This friendship opens us to all that is good and gives us the measure to discern between what is true and what is false, between deceit and truth. ...")}

Papa Benedetto, Amanda loves you!       ♦

_{1) Amanda who's 22 and from America, has a Catholic music ministry, and her song A Little Bit is featured on this podcast (for more info visit her website). Here she describes how her music, her ministry and her marriage would not be the same without Pope Benedict XVI.}

"Be prepared to put your life on the line in order to enlighten the world with the truth of Christ; to respond with love to hatred and disregard for life; to proclaim the hope of the risen Christ in every corner of the earth." - BXVI