In a statement, Harper said he and his wife Laureen were “shocked” at the news Feb. 11 of the Pope’s resignation as of Feb. 28 due to declining health.

“A renowned scholar and theologian, Pope Benedict will always have a special place in the hearts of Canadians,” said Harper. “It was during his papacy that two of our own, St. Brother André Bessette and St. Kateri Tekakwitha were canonized and Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto was elevated to the College of Cardinals.”

In 2009, Harper, his wife and two children had an audience with Pope Benedict. Harper said he was “honoured” to meet “this deeply spiritual man and to hear his words of faith, hope and charity.”

As Canadians await the promised Office of Religious Freedom Harper promised in the last election, Catholic Civil Rights League president Phil Horgan put the focus on this right under challenge in Canada and elsewhere in the world.

“We will always appreciate Pope Benedict’s leadership on questions of religious freedom, which he has stated is not only a God-given right but also the path to peace, civil order and the common good,” said Horgan. “The Pope’s many references to what he called ‘the dictatorship of relativism’ and his warnings about the growth of secularism were also grounded in his belief that one of the greatest threats to freedom today is the increasing decline in religious belief and loss of interest in the search for truth.”

The rights league also praised Benedict’s leadership on pro-life issues and other human rights.