We will need time and perspective to be able to weigh and evaluate the recently concluded pontificate of Benedict XVI. Everything we say now will undoubtedly be affected by the emotions and reactions of "the last days". Not for this reason, however, are we condemned to silence, but it is possible for us to underline with gratitude some aspects in which the passage and the weight of Benedict XVI have been noticed during these almost eight years. We summarize them in ten words:

1. Commitment to the implementation of the Second Vatican Council, "following the example of my predecessors and in faithful continuity with the two-thousand-year tradition of the Church". These words pronounced in his first message, in 2005, have been an inner rule to all the activity of Benedict XVI. It was not really a service to Vatican II - which he knew well, having participated in its work since 1962 - but a service to the Church that had received, with the Council, a great gift from God for the future. The correct interpretation of the Council - the "hermeneutics of the reform in the continuity of the one subject Church" - was part of his mission statement, carried out with wisdom, prudence and fortitude.

2. Service to the unity and diversity of the Church. Benedict XVI welcomed legitimate differences at the center of the Church and made the fundamental principle of unity present in the local churches. The principle of collegiality to which he has clearly adhered has been accompanied by the service of the primacy to all the particular churches.

3. The liturgy of the Church has been a field in which the imprint of Pope Ratzinger has been clearly felt. Beyond the punctual changes in concrete aspects of the celebrations, Benedict XVI has transmitted with his example and his teaching the primacy of adoration, the dignity of worship, the beauty in the signs and in the sacred art. In this way, he has shown that the renewal of the Church will only take place if the celebration of the mysteries of faith in the liturgy expresses the holiness of God and our living insertion in them. His lively and profound preaching, a true example of pastoral didascalia, should be emphasized in a special way.

4. The teaching of Benedict XVI in its various manifestations (his three encyclicals, apostolic exhortations, speeches, catechesis, etc) has transmitted with freshness and doctrinal - and also intellectual - solidity the Gospel, shown in a lively and challenging way for Christians. The Pope's magisterium has confirmed in faith and in the experience of Christian life. He has asked the questions that we all ask ourselves in our Christian existence, and has offered solid and close answers, in which reasons and emotions appear in the right balance.

5. In ecumenism, Benedict XVI has continued the work begun by the Council and promoted in a particular way by John Paul II, in a generous effort to go to meeting of separated brothers and sisters and to share with them the elements of partial unity, with cordiality and affection, in the hope that the fruits will be ever more abundant.

6. Inter-religious dialogue. The knowledge and dialogue with religions (mainly with Judaism and Islam) has led him to meeting with religious leaders of the world. At the same time, he has pointed out the need that in this dialogue the truth should not remain in the background and, at the same time, he has promoted the need that, together with dialogue, evangelization should not be lacking. The "new evangelization" has been his program in recent years to revitalize with faith the countries forgotten by God, which nevertheless have the Christian faith at their roots.

7. Purification of the Church. In the same line of the conciliar teaching on "the Church holy and in need of purification", Benedict XVI has promoted the purification of those facts that have caused great damage and have scandalized so many people. The acceptance of the Withdrawal of some bishops and the separation from ministry of priests guilty of abuses of various kinds subject have been energetic measures that have had as an indirect result assurance that the majority of ordained ministers conduct themselves in an honorable and often heroic manner.

8. The defense of truth. In a world gripped by relativism, Pope Benedict has defended with unique authority the value of a full and open rationality, capable of arriving at the truth, and of living this truth as the basic condition of a full human life, and a guarantee of hope for the future. He has been listened to with respect and admiration (in Regensburg, in Paris and elsewhere) by so many people who find in this defense an authoritative confirmation of their life and faith; and also by those who hold different positions but cannot but recognize the coherence and solidity of the papal speech .

9. True laicity - as opposed to secularism - has been another of the arguments presented in various ways by Pope Ratzinger in meetings with ordinary people and in prestigious forums (the German Bundestag, the English Parliament, the UN...). The "doctrine" of Benedict XVI on this point has deserved the greatest attention and the recognition of a great authority, - as there is probably no other in our time - in dealing with the nature and competencies of the State, with freedom - and particularly with religious freedom - and with the public dimension of the faith. In the future, it will not be possible to do without it.

10. Joy has been a constant attitude and a constant teaching in the person and words of Benedict XVI. The "joy and enthusiasm of faith" (Letter Porta Fidei) he has embodied in his life and they are and will continue to be an example and stimulus for all.