Pope Benedict XVI’s secretary George Ganswein has revealed that the pontiff’s last words were ‘Jesus, I love you’.

These words were no coincidence.

Speaking of Saint Therese of Lisieux in 2011, Benedict XVI said:

Thérèse died on the evening of 30 September 1897, saying the simple words, “My God, I love you!”, looking at the Crucifix she held tightly in her hands. These last words of the Saint are the key to her whole doctrine, to her interpretation of the Gospel the act of love, expressed in her last breath was as it were the continuous breathing of her soul, the beating of her heart. The simple words “Jesus I love you”, are at the heart of all her writings. The act of love for Jesus immersed her in the Most Holy Trinity. She wrote: “Ah, you know, Divine Jesus I love you / The spirit of Love enflames me with his fire, / It is in loving you that I attract the Father”

No doubt Saint Therese was praying for Benedict XVI during his final years of seclusion, prayer and silence, as she lived her life on earth.

May he be as loud as she has been in the life after this.