By Kelsey Gustufson

Abbot John Klassen met Pope Benedict XVI for the first time Friday. This was not meant to be a social event. Gathering in an ornate atrium in the Vatican, Klassen and others presented an edition of the St. John’s Bible to the Pope Benedict XVI.

“The pope was very gracious, attentive and alert,” Klassen said. “He gave the work a very high compliment.”

“(The pope) met with us for about 45 minutes and greeted every family that came
forward,” vice president of Institutional Advancement Rob Culligan said. “It was wonderful to see how he interacted with all the people coming forward.”

After examining the book — the first handwritten Bible since the invention of the printing press — the pope called it “a great work of art … a work for eternity.”

“I was so nervous, but it was great,” St. John’s President Br. Dietrich Reinhart said. “We couldn’t have hoped for more, and it is truly a moment I will never forget.”

The visit was arranged after the Gerry Rauenhorst Foundation made a donation, through the Papal Foundation, to the St. John’s Bible with a request that an edition be given to the pope.

Although a copy was given to the Vatican, the St. John’s Bible was not designed for an exclusively Catholic audience. The translation chosen and the illustrations created were meant to portray an ecumenical approach to biblical reading.

“(The project) draws attention to the Bible in a way other than people screaming verses at each other … This approach shows God in ways people ignore otherwise,” said Rev. Michael Patella, the chair of the Committee on Illumination and Text, a group whoprovided the theological background for the project.

“The Pope was very enthusiastic. It shows that he sees the value of it as well.”

The St. John’s Bible was commissioned in 1998 and is scheduled for completion in 2009. When finished, it will stand two feet tall by three feet wide, and will consist of over 1,000 pages in seven volumes.

“Our hope is that through the art and technology, it brings people to see this type of work in a completely different type of way,” Craig Bruner, director of the Heritage Edition said. “I think it does have an impact on people.”

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