Bavaria: Voderholzer manages estate: "everything is prepared"

Rome (dpa / lby) - Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg will take care of future affairs as director of the Pope Benedict XVI Institute.

Bavaria: Voderholzer manages estate: "everything is prepared"

Rome (dpa / lby) - Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg will take care of future affairs as director of the Pope Benedict XVI Institute. about the personal estate of the deceased head of the church. "It has been discussed for a long time that his personal estate will be managed in Regensburg," Voderholzer told the German Press Agency on Thursday. He had discussed with Benedikt many years ago to take care of the estate. Benedict said it was sensible for his personal belongings, such as his library and private estate, to stay together. "Everything is prepared in Regensburg."

Benedikt felt connected to Regensburg because he taught there as a professor and built a house in neighboring Pentling in 1970, where he actually wanted to spend the rest of his life. His older brother Georg also lived in Regensburg.

Benedict connected his birthplace Marktl am Inn with the diocese of Passau. Like the bishop of Passau, Stefan Oster, Voderholzer took part in the funeral mass for Benedict on St. Peter's Square in Rome on Thursday.

On Wednesday evening they celebrated a service in honor of Benedict in the church of the German cemetery Campo Santo Teutonico, which is within the Vatican walls. Despite the sad occasion, it was a big celebration of faith, said Voderholzer. "Because we said goodbye to a very great witness to whom everyone owes a lot."

Voderholzer said that for him it was a phased farewell that began with a visit to Benedict in the Vatican in mid-November. Together with Bishop Oster and Eichstätt Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke, they could have spoken to the retired Pope again. "We saw a papa emerito who was mentally strong but physically very weak. We knew that he really longed to be called home."

Voderholzer said that Benedikt had repeatedly referred to Regensburg as his home. In the summer of 2020 he returned there for the last time. "It was extremely moving that he insisted on visiting his terminally ill brother." He celebrated mass with the two brothers at the bedside. "One will never forget that."