Apr 21 2008
The lasting impact
I will venture to project that the lasting impact of Pope Benedict’s visit to the U.S. will not be found in the text of his speeches, his homilies or even his extemporaneous comments. No, its impact will be found in the souls so deeply affected by this proximity to the Successor of Peter. A comment on Fox News’ Religion Correspondent Lauren Green’s blog post says it all:
Thank you all so very much. I am a 63 year old Catholic, but have been drifting in my faith lately, not anymore. I am also going to write to the Vatican and thank them for their visit.
As important as we will find all the statements, as closely as we will inspect each and every word, gesture and bit of clothing, the inestimable value of one soul to God is still far and away greater. I’m willing to bet there are a lot more souls equally touched by this visit, many of whom just haven’t written it down anywhere. This, above all else, is the call of the Pope – Shepherd of Souls.
