A train ride that planted the seeds of friendship

It is a distinct honor to pay a humble and fraternal tribute of respect, gratitude and love to the late Pope Benedict xvi . My first close contact and personal conversation with Pope Benedict xvi took place in the year 2002 on the way to the World Meeting of Prayer in Assisi that was initiated by Pope John Paul ii . It was the suggestion of the late Pope John Paul ii for religious leaders to travel together by train to Assisi in order to demonstrate their inner journey of spiritual awareness alongside their external pilgrimage of religious understanding. I took the opportunity to invite then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to sit beside me in the same compartment for the train ride. That occasion planted the seeds of a mutual affection and pastoral alliance that endured for two decades. For me, this meeting along the way to Assisi was ...