Pope Benedict XVI, on his last Sunday in the window, said he is not abandoning the Church.
“But this doesn’t mean abandoning the church,” he said, as many in the crowd looked sad at his approaching departure. “On the contrary, if God asks me, this is because I can continue to serve it (the church) with the same dedication and the same love which I have tried to do so until now, but in a way more suitable to my age and to my strength.”
The phrase “tried to” was the pope’s adlibbed addition to his prepared text.
Abandonment, I am sure, would look completely different.
