Magdeburg (dpa/sa) - Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) and church dignitaries in the state have after the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. remembered for his merits. "(...) Coming from a humble background, he was the first German pope since the Middle Ages to make a deep impression with his high level of learning, firm faith, modesty and his services to the dialogue between religions," said Haseloff, according to the State Chancellery on Saturday. He always felt very close to the Pope. "His death touches me deeply," said the head of government.
The pope emeritus died on Saturday at the age of 95 in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican.
The Pope will go down in history as "spiritual and pious at the same time," said the Catholic Bishop of Magdeburg, Gerhard Feige, in an obituary on Saturday. Ecumenically, the theological dialogue between the orthodox churches and the catholic church got going again through Benedict XVI - after several years of standstill.
On the other hand, some of his statements confused Christians, the bishop explained. Among them was above all the Pope's declaration "Dominus Jesus" from the year 2000 about the uniqueness and the salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the Church - the document not only irritated evangelical Christians in Germany but also representatives of other religions.
The paper opposed a pluralistic theology of religions that put Jesus Christ on a par with other founders of religions and questioned the universal significance of Christianity and the Church. "Later generations will be able to appreciate his merits in the right way," Feige estimated.
