Ad multos annos! Vivas!

Today the Holy Father Benedict XVI is celebrating his 85th birthday in a particularly Bavarian fashion, surrounded by his brother and many of his countrymen.

Pope Benedict has already made a number of historical benchmarks, and today he makes another: the last time a Pope reached the age of 85 was in 1895 when Pope Leo XIII.  Pope Benedict XVI today is the 6th oldest Bishop of Rome.

Let us ask the Father to bless our Pope with continued good health so that he might continue to lead us ever deeper into the myster of faith (not to mention sufficient "free time" to finish his reflections on the Incarnation for us).

Let us pray.

O God, who in your providential design
willed that your Church be built
upon blessed Peter, whom you set over the other Apostles,
look with favor, we pray, on Benedict our Pope
and grant that he, whom you have made Peter's successor,
may be for your people a visible source and foundation
of unity in faith and of communion.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, you Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Ad multos annos, vivas!  Gloriosque annos, vivas!  Ad multos annos, gloriosque annos, vivas! vivas!  Vivas!

Happy birthday, Holy Father!