Pope Benedict has been a leader devoted to ecumenical efforts, according to a professor of Christian history and ecumenism at Fuller Theological Seminary, a Protestant school in Pasadena, Calif. “I have appreciated his commitment to ecumenism,” Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., who is also a minister in the Assemblies of God, an ecclesial community in the Pentecostal tradition, told CNA Feb. 19.

Robeck participated in the third inter-faith gathering at Assisi with Pope Benedict in 2011, and corresponded with him when he was still prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“He's the first Pope we've heard make a verbal statements in his speech welcoming the Pentecostals, wishing us well and saying how important he felt the (Pentecostal-Catholic) dialogue was,” Robeck remembered.

Robeck said Pope Benedict's three-book series on Jesus of Nazareth was warmly received by Pentecostals. “Benedict really won them over with his three volume series on the life of Jesus; that's a very important contribution he's made to the evangelical community.”