Eijk met Pope Benedict personally and quite frequently. Joseph Ratzinger, as Benedict is actually called, was also a cardinal during those meetings. He was also prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of which Eijk was also a member. “He knew how to analyze a theological issue flawlessly and in great detail and to reduce it to the core,” says Eijk. Even after Ratzinger became pope, Eijk still had regular, but shorter contact with him, he says.
Archbishop Eijk calls deceased Benedict ‘a pope after Jesus’ heart’
