The first time took place when Joseph Ratzinger was ill with diphtheria as a child. They said he wouldn’t survive, but he eventually recovered, and he attributed his healing to his guardian angel.
The second time was when he fell into a water tank near where he lived and managed to get out thanks to the help of his guardian angel.
Later, at the end of World War II, Hitler forced all young Germans into the Hitler Youth, and young Joseph was sent to an anti-aircraft unit. But as soon as he could, he fled.
He was sick with septicemia and at that moment ran into some soldiers. His situation was serious because deserting the army was betrayal of the fatherland. But because of his poor state of health they let him go and he was able to get home. In his memoirs, Ratzinger says that it seemed that an angel was protecting him.
In 2009, already as pope, he was going to Castel Gandolfo on vacation with the intention of writing his work Jesus of Nazareth.
After arriving, he fell down, and his arm had to be put in a cast. Benedict XVI said that his angel allowed this fall, following higher orders, so that the pope could dedicate himself to rest.
What the pope taught about angels
Journalist Vittorio Messori interviewed Cardinal Ratzinger when he was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and asked him about the invisible world.
Ratzinger answered with an analogy: when you see a person's eyes you can glimpse what’s going on inside, such as whether that person is sad or happy. You don't see sadness, but by looking into a person's eyes you can glimpse something invisible.
Messori asked Ratzinger if he had seen his guardian angel, and he answered that he had not, that the way this relationship develops depends on the person's temperament, and that in any case people shouldn’t only communicate with their angel, but communicate with God.
Regarding angels, Ratzinger said in a homily of the memorial of the three archangels (September 29, 2007) that we know from Sacred Scripture and Tradition that they are creatures (not gods) but their nature is to be in the presence of God and fundamentally oriented towards God. That’s why most of the names of angels end with the root "el," which means God.
There’s another important aspect of angels: they are messengers of God. Indeed, Benedict XVI says that angels can be close to us precisely because of their closeness to God. They come to stir up in us what we have forgotten or what is hidden within us: talents, virtues, gifts, good qualities, values ...
Angels come to move us so that all that God has given us may come to light. They come to help us have an encounter with ourselves.
Benedict XVI told young people to feel the presence of angels and to let themselves be guided by them. He encouraged married couples to have frequent recourse to the help of their guardian angels in order to grow in their constant witness of authentic love.
Let us join the angels to enter into communication with God.
