An unpublished letter from Benedict XVI, written on April 27, 2021, just over a year before his death, has been published in Italy and offers a final synthesis of his thought on prayer and the future of the Christian faith. The text, made known by the British weekly The Catholic Herald, is part of the book La fede del futuro, published by the Italian house Edizioni Cantagalli.
The work gathers hitherto unpublished or hard-to-access writings by Joseph Ratzinger and features a preface by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who frames the text in a context of cultural and religious uncertainty.
The future of the faith in an uncertain world
In the volume’s introduction, Parolin points out that the future has become a central issue also for theology, at a time when “it is by no means certain that humanity will continue to believe in God.” According to the cardinal, Ratzinger’s reflection is not limited to the fate of the faith, but addresses the confusion and loss of hope that characterize the current world.
In a time marked by an unprecedented historical acceleration, he adds, humanity faces “extreme possibilities but also extreme dangers,” and the future is no longer awaited with hope, but with anxiety. In that framework arises the question: does faith still have a role to play in shaping tomorrow?
Prayer as a fundamental act
The unpublished letter from Benedict XVI, titled “Introduction: Reflections on Christian Prayer,” focuses on the nature of prayer as the core of Christian life.
The Pope Emeritus defines prayer, in general terms, as “the fundamental religious act” and as the attempt to enter into concrete contact with God. But he emphasizes that the Christian specificity consists in praying “together with Jesus Christ and, at the same time, to Him.”
Christ, he writes, is true man and true God and, therefore, “can be the bridge, the pontiff, that makes it possible to overcome the infinite abyss between God and man.” In this sense, He is “the ontological possibility of prayer” and also its practical guide.
Cross and Eucharist: the center of Christian prayer
Benedict XVI insists that Christian prayer cannot be detached from the Cross or the Eucharist. Recalling the words of the prophet Samuel—“to obey is better than sacrifice”—he states that in Christ the definitive critique of a worship reduced to words or external sacrifices is fulfilled.
“Christian prayer, as prayer together with Jesus Christ, is always anchored in the Eucharist, leads to it and takes place in it,” he writes. The Eucharist is described as “prayer fulfilled with the whole being” and as the critical synthesis of true worship.
In it, he holds, Jesus has pronounced his definitive “no” to merely ritual sacrifices and has placed in their place the great “yes” of his life and his death.
Realism and purification of desire
The text also addresses the realism of the prayer of petition. Against the idea that true prayer should be limited to praise and not include concrete supplications, Benedict responds that such a stance ignores the human condition.
“We need God precisely to be able to live our daily life starting from Him and directing it toward Him,” he states. The very structure of the Our Father, composed of seven petitions, shows that asking is an essential part of Christian prayer.
Asking God, he adds, also means purifying one’s own desires and placing them within the “we” of Christ’s family.
A final synthesis of his thought
Published in the last years of his life, when he was already living in retirement and with fragile health, the letter confirms the coherence of Benedict XVI’s theological thought: centrality of Christ, primacy of the Eucharist, critique of superficial worship, and understanding of prayer as transformation of the heart.