Mourning for the "German Pope" and formative character for the Catholic Church - but critical tones are also mixed in with the appraisals in the country.
Freiburg / Rome (dpa / lsw) - The south-west mourns the late Pope Benedict XVI: The bishops in the country honored him as the "German Pope" and formative for the Catholic Church. For the Archbishop of Freiburg, Stephan Burger, Benedict's pontificate was marked by the spiritual brilliance and clarity of the theology professor, as well as by warm-heartedness and pious depth. Despite all the sadness, the painful events in dealing with allegations of abuse and perpetrators, which affect Joseph Ratzinger as Archbishop of Munich and Freising, should not be ignored, according to Burger. As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and as Pope, he set clear standards in dealing with the past.
The Rottenburg Bishop Gebhard Fürst paid tribute to the late Benedict as a man who had had a lasting influence on the Catholic Church. Two sentences from the legacy of Benedict XVI. are particularly worth considering for him today: "In the beginning there is not the teaching, but the person of Jesus of Nazareth." In a letter to the Irish church on the abuse scandal there in 2010, he also pointed out: "We need a new vision to inspire future generations to appreciate the gift of our common faith."
The Freiburg publisher Herder remembers Benedict as the "Pope of books". Benedict XVI stands like no other pope. for being a Christian where content counts. Joseph Ratzinger signed his first publishing contract with the Herder publishing house in 1956. With more than 60 publications, he is one of the most longstanding and influential authors of the publishing house, according to publisher Manuel Herder.
The CDU Baden-Württemberg tweeted: "He dedicated his life to the church. Rest in peace, Pope."
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. died on Saturday morning in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican. The state of health of the native of Bavaria had recently deteriorated. Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope on April 19, 2005, succeeding John Paul II. Benedict was the first German pope in about 480 years.
During his pontificate, Benedict continued the conservative course of his predecessor. He resisted modernizing the church, which brought him a lot of criticism. The initial enthusiasm of the Germans waned. His tenure was overshadowed above all by abuse scandals that plunged the Catholic Church into a deep crisis.
In 2022, his own handling of cases of abuse during his time as Archbishop of Munich and Freising also hit the headlines. An abuse report commissioned by the Archdiocese of Munich accused him of misconduct in four cases. Benedict was Archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982.
