Pope visit to Germany in 2011

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Logo of the Pope's visit in 2011
Benedict XVI. at the Sunday mass in Freiburg

The Pope's visit to Germany in 2011 was the 21st apostolic journey of Benedict XVI. and the third visit to Germany since the beginning of his pontificate . It took place from September 22nd to 25th, 2011. The motto of the trip was: "Where God is, there is future".

preparation

In addition to the preparations for the German Bishops' Conference and the host dioceses of Berlin , Erfurt and Freiburg , the Holy See's preparatory trip took place from February 6th to 10th, 2011 , which was carried out by travel marshal Alberto Gasbarri. During the general assembly of the German Bishops' Conference on March 15, the motto and logo of the papal journey and its planned course were presented. While the original plans were to celebrate Holy Mass on September 22nd in Berlin in front of Charlottenburg Palace , it was announced on June 15th that the service would take place in the Berlin Olympic Stadium due to the high number of registrations . In April 2011 the Pope confirmed the program and the itinerary. The full program of the Pope's visit was published on July 20, 2011. On August 11, the registration process for the divine service in the Olympic Stadium was temporarily suspended due to the high level of interest, as more than 64,000 registrations were received.

In the run-up to and in the mood for the visit, Pope Benedict XVI spoke. on September 17, 2011 in the first “ Das Wort zum Sonntag ”. In the four-minute broadcast, the Pope emphasized that he was looking forward to visiting Germany and that his trip was neither a show nor religious tourism. Rather, he wants God to come back into our field of vision.

Itinerary

Berlin

Papal reception at the Federal President
Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the Holy Mass in the Olympiastadion Berlin with around 61,000 believers .
Honor lap with the Popemobile through the Olympic Stadium.
Music stand

Arrival and reception

The visit began on the morning of September 22, 2011, when the Pope's plane flew into German airspace and was escorted to Berlin by four Eurofighters. After landing at Berlin-Tegel Airport , Pope Benedict XVI. welcomed by, among others, Federal President Christian Wulff , Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Apostolic Nuncio in Germany, Archbishop Jean-Claude Périsset . The Pope was accompanied by the Vatican Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone and Cardinal Kurt Koch .

Then the Pope drove to the official reception in Bellevue Palace . In his welcoming address, Federal President Wulff referred to the responsibility of the Church in the modern world and was confident that the Pope's home visit would strengthen Christians and provide guidance for everyone. He also thanked the Church, especially Pope John Paul II , for the contribution to the reunification of Germany and Europe. Benedict XVI. in his address complained, among other things, of an increasing indifference in society towards religion. The Pope also emphasized the religious character of his trip. He did not come primarily, "as other statesmen rightly do, to pursue certain political and economic goals, but to meet people and talk about God".

Then the Pope went to the Catholic Academy in Berlin and to the seat of the German Bishops' Conference to talk to the Chancellor.

Bundestag speech

In the afternoon, Benedict XVI. as the first Pope to give a speech to the German Bundestag in the Reichstag building . The invitation to this speech is addressed to him as Pope, as Bishop of Rome, who has the ultimate responsibility for Catholic Christianity. He also spoke as a compatriot, he emphasized, "who follows the fate of the German homeland with sympathy". In his strongly philosophical and theological, fundamental political speech about the development of law ( legal positivism versus natural law ), he emphasized that law is indispensable as the basis of every state and therefore raises the question - which is crucial for politicians of a free constitutional state - such as politics “Could distinguish between good and evil, between true law and pseudo law”. In a large part of the legally regulated matters, the majority could be a sufficient criterion, but it was obvious that “in the fundamental questions of law, which concern the dignity of man and humanity, the majority principle is not sufficient”. Christianity, he emphasized, had “never given the state and society a right of revelation, never a legal system based on revelation ”. Instead, it has referred to nature and reason as the true sources of law since Paul . In this way, conscience is also defined “as reason opened to the language of being”. With reference to the pure doctrine of law developed by Hans Kelsen at the beginning of the 20th century , however, he pointed to the now almost generally accepted positivistic understanding of nature and reason. A positivistic concept of nature cannot create a bridge to ethos and law. The same is true of reason in a positivistic understanding. What is not verifiable or falsifiable does not belong in the realm of reason in the strict sense. But where "the sole rule of positivistic reason applies - and this is largely the case in our public consciousness - the classical sources of knowledge for ethos and law are suspended". An essential intention of his speech in the Bundestag is to initiate a necessary public discussion about this dramatic situation. Because this situation diminishes people, yes it threatens their humanity . “I am saying this particularly with regard to Europe, in which large circles are trying to recognize only positivism as a common culture and as a common basis for legal education, relegating all other insights and values ​​of our culture to the status of a subculture and thus Europe in relation to the others Cultures of the world are moved into a status of lack of culture and at the same time extremist and radical currents are challenged ”. On the question of how reason could find its greatness again and how nature could reappear in its true depth, in its claim and with its instructions, he recalled, "in the hope not to be too misunderstood and not to provoke too many one-sided polemics", the appearance of the ecological movement in German politics. Young people have become aware that the earth itself has its dignity and that we have to follow its instructions. However, there is also “an ecology of humans. Man too has a nature which he must respect and which he cannot manipulate at will. Man is not just self-making freedom. Man does not make himself. He is spirit and will , but he is also nature, and his will is right if he listens to nature, respects it and accepts himself as who he is and who has not made himself Has. This is the only way true human freedom takes place . ”He asked whether it was really pointless to consider whether the objective reason that appears in nature does not presuppose a creative reason, a creator spirit , whose will certain norms would have put in it. Derived from the conviction of a creator god, the idea of human rights , the idea of equality before the law , the recognition of the inviolability of human dignity and the knowledge of personal responsibility were developed. The inner identity of Europe formed from the encounter between Jerusalem, Athens and Rome has "set standards of law which we are tasked to defend in our historical hour".

About 50 of the total of 620 MPs stayed away from the speech because they saw the constitutional requirement of the separation of church and state violated. During the Pope's speech in the German Bundestag, several thousand demonstrators protested on Potsdamer Platz against the visit and what they saw as the “anti-human gender and sexual policy of the Pope”. After his speech, the pontiff met representatives of the Central Council of Jews .

church service

In the evening Benedict XVI celebrated a Holy Mass in the Olympic Stadium , attended by 61,000 people. Among those celebrating, the entire government was represented by the Federal President, Federal Chancellor, Federal Council President Hannelore Kraft , Bundestag President Norbert Lammert , the Governing Mayor of Berlin , Klaus Wowereit , as well as numerous Federal Ministers and members of the German Bundestag.

At the same time as the mass, the demonstrators moved from Potsdamer Platz to St. Hedwig's Cathedral , the main church of Berlin's Catholics; Members of the Bundestag also took part.

On the morning of September 23, the Pope met representatives of Islam in Germany at the Apostolic Nunciature in Berlin before he left for Erfurt .

Commons : Benedikt XVI in Berlin  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Erfurt

Vespers of Mary with Pope Benedict on the pilgrim field at the Etzelsbach pilgrimage chapel
reception

Then he flew from Tegel Airport to Erfurt. On the Erfurt-Weimar Airport awaited him Thuringian Minister President Christine Lieberknecht and the Prime Minister of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt , Stanislaw Tillich and Reiner Haseloff . He was the first Pope to visit the faithful in the eastern federal states and, at the same time, Thuringia, a heartland of the Reformation .

Benedict XVI. was then received by Bishop Joachim Wanke in Erfurt Cathedral . He then met the leading representatives of the Protestant Church in Germany in the chapter house of the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt , the monastery into which the reformer Martin Luther had entered . After the meeting, the Pope celebrated an ecumenical service in community with President Bishop Nikolaus Schneider .

Church services

In the evening Benedict XVI flew by helicopter to the Etzelsbach pilgrimage chapel in Eichsfeld . There he celebrated a Marian Vespers with 90,000 pilgrims on the pilgrim field by the chapel . After that, Benedict XVI flew. back to Erfurt, where he met victims of sexual abuse by priests and church workers in the seminary . He expressed his deep sympathy and regret to those affected. Subsequently, Benedict XVI met. People who care for and help victims of abuse. These meetings were not part of the official visit program of the Pope, Benedict XVI. has held such meetings repeatedly on the fringes of his apostolic journeys in recent years. The meeting was criticized by the spokesman for the SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) as a “meaningless gesture”.

On September 24th, Benedict XVI celebrated In the morning the Holy Mass on the Erfurt Cathedral Square in front of around 30,000 believers. The Pope praised the contribution of East German Christians to the fall of the Berlin Wall . "The new freedom" has helped "to open people's lives with greater dignity and a variety of new opportunities," said Benedict XVI. Then the pontiff flew to the last stop of his visit to Freiburg .

Freiburg

Ride with the Popemobile through the center of Freiburg
Holy Mass in Freiburg
Prayer in Freiburg
reception

After landing at Lahr Airport and being welcomed by the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg , Winfried Kretschmann , Benedict XVI. A short conversation with him before he went on to Freiburg, after a short trip in the popemobile through the city center, accompanied by the ringing of bells, to visit the Freiburg cathedral and to pray the Angel of the Lord . Then the Archbishop of Freiburg and chairman of the German Bishops' Conference Robert Zollitsch welcomed him on the Münsterplatz. During the short celebration in front of the cathedral, the Pope greeted the townspeople. Benedict XVI. was the first Pope to visit Freiburg.

Seminary

Later Benedict XVI came. with Helmut Kohl in the priest seminary in Freiburg . The former Federal Chancellor was accompanied by his wife Maike Kohl-Richter . The Pope paid tribute to Kohl's work for German unity and Europe. In the seminary he also met representatives of the Orthodox Churches and called for a common commitment by all Christians against anti-religious tendencies in society. He also met the candidates for the priesthood of the seminary and the presidium of the Central Committee of German Catholics .

Church services

In the evening Benedict XVI celebrated together with 30,000 young people a vigil with Eucharistic adoration on the grounds of the Freiburg Exhibition Center .

On September 25, the Pope celebrated the Sunday service with 100,000 people on the grounds of the Freiburg airfield . Benedict XVI. In his sermon he called on Catholics to unity and Christian humility. The German Church will face the challenges of the present and the future if priests, religious and lay people “work together in unity”, he said. The local bishops of all 27 dioceses in Germany took part in the mass, which was co-celebrated by the Vatican Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch and the Cardinals Karl Lehmann and Joachim Meisner .

Meeting and departure

After the mass there was lunch with the members of the German Bishops' Conference . In the afternoon Benedict XVI met together with federal constitutional judges in the seminary of Freiburg. At the end of his trip, the Pope gave a speech in the Freiburg Concert Hall , to which prominent Catholics from church, politics and society were invited. In the early evening Benedict XVI. At Lahr airport, a last, short conversation with the Federal President, who in his farewell speech invited the Pope to return home soon - also privately. Then the Pope flew back to Rome again with the Lufthansa Airbus A320 “Regensburg” .

Commons : Benedikt XVI in Freiburg im Breisgau  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Visiting program

Pope visit to Germany 2011 (Germany)
Berlin
Berlin
Erfurt
Erfurt
Etzelsbach
Etzelsbach
Lahr / Black Forest
Lahr / Black Forest
Freiburg in Breisgau
Freiburg in Breisgau
Stations of the Pope's visit and dioceses of the Catholic Church
  • Archdiocese of Berlin
  • Diocese of Erfurt
  • Archdiocese of Freiburg
    •

    Thursday September 22, 2011

    Archdiocese of Berlin :
    10:30 a.m. - Arrival at Berlin-Tegel Airport
    11:15 a.m. - Official welcome by Federal President Christian Wulff in Bellevue Palace
    12:50 p.m. - Meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel
    4:15 p.m. - Visit to the German Bundestag and speech
    5:15 p.m. - meeting with the Jewish community
    6:30 p.m. - Holy Mass in the Olympic Stadium

    Friday 23rd September 2011

    9:30 am Meeting with representatives of the Muslim community in Germany (with 15 members of associations, employees of aid organizations and Islam teachers)
    Diocese of Erfurt :
    10:00 a.m. - flight from Berlin-Tegel to Erfurt
    10:45 a.m. - Arrival at Erfurt-Weimar Airport
    11:15 am - welcome in the cathedral in Erfurt
    11:45 am - Conversation with representatives of the Evangelical Church in Germany in the Augustinian monastery , ecumenical word service
    4:30 p.m. - Helicopter flight to the Etzelsbach pilgrimage chapel
    5:45 p.m. - Marian Vespers in Etzelsbach
    6.45 p.m. - helicopter flight to Erfurt

    Saturday September 24, 2011

    09:00 am - Holy Mass on the Domplatz in Erfurt
    11:50 a.m. - flight from Erfurt to Lahr
    Archdiocese of Freiburg :
    12:50 p.m. - Arrival at Lahr Airport
    2:00 p.m. - Visit to the Freiburg Minster and welcome on the Münsterplatz
    afterwards: meeting with seminarians from the seminary and meeting with Helmut Kohl
    5:15 p.m. - meeting with representatives of the Orthodox Churches
    6:00 p.m. - Discussion with the Presidium of the Central Committee of German Catholics
    7:00 p.m. - Prayer vigil with young people at the Freiburg Exhibition Center

    Sunday 25th September 2011

    10:00 am - Holy Mass
    1:00 p.m. - Lunch with the members of the German Bishops' Conference
    4:00 p.m. - Meeting with the President of the Court and other members of the Federal Constitutional Court in the Catholic Seminary in Freiburg
    5:00 p.m. - Speech in the Freiburg Concert Hall , meeting with committed Catholics from church and politics
    6:00 p.m. - drive to Lahr Airport
    7.15 p.m. - flight from Lahr to Rome

    costs

    According to a report in the Neue Ruhr Zeitung , citing information from the Catholic Church, the church is spending around 25 million euros on the Pope's visit. The altar for the mass in the Berlin Olympic Stadium with 70,000 people attending the service is estimated at around 400,000 euros. There are also costs borne by the federal states. However, Berlin and Thuringia have not provided any information on this. The state of Baden-Württemberg has provided five million euros for security measures and a further 300,000 euros for medical and rescue personnel. The city of Freiburg has budgeted 300,000 euros for additional expenses for the papal visit.

    The following important information is missing from this article or section:
    How much money did the visit actually cost? - Flominator 7:29 PM, Apr 6, 2012 (CEST)
    Help Wikipedia by researching and pasting it .

    The service in the Olympic Stadium is estimated at 3.5 million euros. The Berlin Archbishop Woelki defended the high costs in a pastoral letter : "That may seem like a lot to you and that is also a lot"; However, the costs would not "[...] be at the expense of our social and charitable commitment." In order to keep costs low, utensils such as benches and tents that were purchased especially for the church services are then sold on. By the end of 2011, 4,200 of the 5,000 banks from Freiburg had already been sold for 410 euros each. At the end of 2011, the artist Marco Schuler created his work Orbi from 30 benches , which has since covered the summit cross of the Belchen in the form of a cube.

    Public reception of the Pope's visit

    According to a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov , 60% of German citizens have no or a neutral opinion about the Pope's visit, while 31.1% see the Pope's visit as positive. Only 8.1% were negative. A total of 44 percent of Germans were looking forward to the Pope's visit at the end of August 2011, 69 percent of Catholics, but also 47 percent of Protestants. Nevertheless, according to a representative Forsa survey , the majority of Germans do not attach great importance to the Pope's visit . 86% of the population consider the Pope's visit to be not at all important or rather unimportant, 14% to be important. Among the Catholics, the proportion of the population who consider the papal visit to be important is 36%.

    Controversies and protests

    Papal speech in the Bundestag

    The Pope's speech to the Bundestag was discussed and announced in the Council of Elders in December 2010 . Bundestag President Norbert Lammert reacted with satisfaction that the Pope had accepted this invitation, that there was a “very broad consensus” in all parliamentary groups that the visit to the capital would be accompanied by a speech in front of the Bundestag. In September 2006, Norbert Lammert's invitation to the Pope caused displeasure in the Bundestag because it was made without consulting the committees. On May 30, 2011, Lammert prepared the conversation at a private audience with the Pope. Only a small group of people may speak as a guest in front of the Bundestag . These include heads of state and speakers on special days of remembrance.

    The Pope's speech was judged differently in politics and society. The spokesman for church politics and interreligious dialogue of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, Josef Winkler , expressed his expectation that the Pope would give a "groundbreaking speech" that would give impetus to be used in political work. The Commissioner for Churches and Religious Communities of the SPD parliamentary group, Siegmund Ehrmann , expected subjects that were relevant to society to be addressed. The religious-political spokesman for the left-wing faction, Raju Sharma , described the Pope as an interlocutor who must be taken seriously.

    The announced papal speech in the Bundestag was criticized by, among others, Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen , the SPD and the Left . The main points of criticism are the incompatibility of the papal speech with the religious neutrality of the state, the "complicity in the oppression of millions of people" and the discrimination, etc. a. of women and homosexuals in the Catholic Church and the inability to respond to the speech. So criticized z. B. Elke Ferner (SPD) that there was “no opportunity for discussion after the Pope's speech”. “Normally in Parliament we have the principle of speech and counter-speech. But only one person is speaking here, and the MPs listen in silence. That has nothing to do with dialogue. ”The President of the Evangelical Church in Germany , Nikolaus Schneider , also criticized the Pope's planned speech to the Bundestag. So it is incomprehensible to him that the Roman Catholic Church sees itself not only as a church, but also as a state. "Our understanding of the office and the church differs very much from that of the Catholics [...] The church as a state organ - that goes against our confession."

    Christian Ströbele , member of the Bundestag, announced that Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen would open the plenary hall during Benedict XVI's speech. to leave. "I particularly resent our Holy Father for not confessing his guilt and that of his Church in Latin America". In contrast, he advocated a speech by the Dalai Lama . The parliamentary manager of the Greens, Volker Beck , spoke out against the speech in front of the Bundestag, as it was a neutral place. “The Pope is first and foremost the head of a religious community and secondly the head of state”. Beck expects from "Mr. Ratzinger" that "he holds back on issues of German domestic politics - as is expected of every other head of state. He is invited as a statesman and not as a schoolmaster in matters of family law or sex life ”. On the other hand, the chairman of the green parliamentary group, Renate Künast , spoke out in favor of enabling other religious leaders to speak to the Bundestag alongside the Pope: “The Pope is invited, that's okay. We're going there, respectfully. ” Dietmar Bartsch , the deputy chairman of the Left Party in the Bundestag, expressed himself positively:“ If George Bush has spoken, then the Pope may speak too. ”

    On June 25, 2011, the Rheinische Post reported that some members of the SPD would not take part in the papal speech. To this end, the newspaper has a draft by the MP and laicist Rolf Schwanitz . According to this, the Pope is partly to blame “for the AIDS epidemic, which has not yet been stopped globally, and for the oppression, exploitation and stigmatization of millions of people”, and the speech is incompatible with the principle of religious neutrality. The Bundestag is "neither a place of religious missionary work nor a church". He therefore hoped that a third of the SPD parliamentary group would boycott the papal speech. SPD parliamentary group leader Thomas Oppermann countered this by saying that the Pope does not hold a service, but speaks on current global political issues. Schwanitz himself contradicted the representation of some newspapers that he had called for a “boycott” of the Pope's speech; on the contrary, he was of the opinion "that it is up to each individual member to decide whether or not to be present at the Pope's speech". According to information from the Leipziger Volkszeitung, the SPD parliamentary group leadership wanted to fill up the seats of parliamentarians who stayed away from the meeting in protest by specifically inviting former members of the Bundestag in order to hide the impression of the visible protest. In the Bundestag faction of the Greens, however, vacant spaces are not filled.

    Many members of the left-wing parliamentary group also announced that they would demonstratively stay away from the plenary chamber during Ratzinger's speech. The religious policy spokesman for the Left Party, Raju Sharma, said that he expected half of the Left Party's faction to stay away from the Bundestag during the Pope's speech. This was confirmed by the deputy group leader Petra Sitte . Accordingly, about half the parliamentary group will attend the speech, while the other half will take part in a counter-demonstration. In total, over 100 members of the Bundestag from the ranks of the Left Party, SPD and Greens announced by mid-September that they would not attend the papal speech in the Bundestag because they considered his appearance to be incompatible with the religious neutrality of the state.

    For this, the left in particular has been criticized by several politicians, mainly the Union, in some cases sharply. Marked Thomas Goppel , spokesman for the CSU Catholics in the CSU, the Left MPs as "political bully" and "ideologues" while his party colleague Norbert Geis boycott Pope a "clear signal" sees in the space "that the Communists have not yet arrived in democracy ”. For the general secretary of the CSU, Alexander Dobrindt , the boycott is “not only a bottomless disrespect for the Pope, but also deeply undemocratic and intolerant”. The spokesman for the working group of committed Catholics of the CDU , Martin Lohmann , on the other hand, sees the members of the Left Party as blatantly overwhelmed by the Pope's “message of truth and clarity”. Federal Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich (CSU) described the boycott as “a mixture of arrogance and small-mindedness, of provinciality and arrogance”. Further criticism of the attitude of the left was among other things. a. Voiced by Ilse Aigner (CSU), Gerda Hasselfeldt (CSU), Volker Kauder (CDU), Wolfgang Thierse (SPD) and Hans-Jochen Vogel (SPD).

    The spokesman for the left group, Hendrik Thalheim , rejected this criticism. The freedom of speech in Germany also close criticism of the Church with one. Greens leader Claudia Roth saw it similarly . "The right to freedom of expression must not be restricted when a head of state comes to Germany, not even if it is the Pope." SPD board member Sebastian Edathy said in the Handelsblatt : "The Pope is an official guest of the Bundestag, that results but no duty of freely elected MPs to attend his speech. ”In the same article, Volker Beck spoke up and recalled the CDU politician Erika Steinbach . The latter left the Bundestag during the speech by the Polish historian and Holocaust survivor Feliks Tych as part of the memorial service for the victims of National Socialism, although there was no criticism from the CDU. "Anyone who has remained silent about it and is now criticizing shows what kind of spirit he is," said Beck according to the Handelsblatt.

    The boycott announcement was received differently in the Roman Catholic Church. While Archbishop Robert Zollitsch regretted that some of the MPs wanted to stay away from the speech, Archbishop Joachim Meisner described this as "inappropriate and embarrassing". The boycott is "so petty that one can only laugh or cry about it", the fact that such politicians sit in the Bundestag, "not a quality mark for this noble representation of our people". At the same time, he assessed the protests against the speech as "a rationally incomprehensible anti-pope obsession". Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller is quoted as saying "In Germany everyone has the right to do stupid things". Back in April, Robert Zollitsch, the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference , asked the MPs to be present during the announced speech of the Pope before the Bundestag . “The basic democratic attitude of our MPs will be shown by their presence in the Bundestag during the speech. It would speak for itself if someone stayed away from this historic hour for our country in protest. ” Karl Lehmann , on the other hand, expressed himself more cautiously : Although he also criticized the absence of some of the MPs, he also called for calm.

    Criticism also came from the Vatican . Cardinal Walter Brandmüller said that the behavior of MPs abroad would "strengthen the image of the ugly German". In view of the announcement by several MPs that they will not be attending the speech, the Vatican also reminds that the Pope has been invited to this speech. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi also said that listening to a speech does not include endorsing all statements. Anyone who disagrees with the Pope can then make this known.

    The Holy See Press Office made the text of the speech available in full.

    Protests

    The following important information is still missing in the following section:
    Only announcements are played. There is no evaluation of the protests or the number of participants. The relevance of this action should also be checked.
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    The meeting of the Pope with members of the Federal Constitutional Court in Freiburg was criticized in the run-up by representatives of the Humanist Union because, in their opinion, it was incompatible with the neutrality requirement of the highest German court in matters of religion.

    "Great fun instead of fear of hell" - the motto under which the demonstrations in Erfurt were held on the occasion of the Pope's visit

    Similar to World Youth Day 2011 , the counter-movement “The Pope is Coming” was founded on the occasion of the Pope's visit to Germany . This includes over 55 organizations from politics and society. The alliance passed a resolution that primarily criticizes the sexual morality and doctrine of men and women of the church, which the protest movement describes as the gender and sexual policy of the Pope . Several thousand people and various celebrities agreed to it on the Internet.

    Berlin's Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit expressed understanding for the announced protests; he understands when citizens "use the Pope's visit to draw attention to the fact that the Catholic Church's teaching represents theses that belong far back to millennia, but not modern times." He approves of the demonstrations, provided that they " happen in a peaceful and democratic framework. ”Wowereit emphasized that he did not call for protests, but wanted Benedict XVI. be a good host.

    The alliance The Pope is coming! , consisting of over 50 regional and supraregional groups, organized a demonstration on September 22nd on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin under the motto “No Power to Dogmas!” . The originally intended demonstration location at the Brandenburg Gate was discarded. Well-known critics of the Catholic Church, including Uta Ranke-Heinemann , are expected to demonstrate . Furthermore, netzwerkB (network of victims of sexual violence) is calling for a demonstration on Pariser Platz and, against the background of the abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church, calls for the civil and criminal statute of limitations to be lifted.

    Demonstrations against the Pope's family and women's policy under the motto “Heidenspaß instead of hellish fear” were also registered in Erfurt, where they were visiting, on September 23rd and 24th at the train station and on the Anger. The alliance criticized the press for the fact that only eight percent of the Catholics live in Thuringia, but that the visit by the Catholic religious leader is staged as a major social event.

    There should also be protests at the third venue, Freiburg im Breisgau . An alliance of 23 groups under the name “Freiburg without Pope” intended to hand over thousands of signatures to the city of Freiburg shortly before the Pope's visit in order to prevent the Pope from entering himself in the city's golden book. The Lord Mayor of Freiburg, Dieter Salomon , called the protest against the entry provincial and shameful . At the same time as the Pope's visit, the reform movement We Are Church is holding a panel discussion with critics of the Pope and a “service for seekers and those who are excluded” under the title “Pope - Power - Future? ” .

    Media reception

    Ines Pohl , editor-in-chief of the taz , criticized the invitation to the Bundestag. She advocates the separation of church and state and finds it problematic that, since September 11, 2001, "those in power have so easily come off the lips of those in power when it comes to making political decisions about religious reasons". The Bundestag should therefore “not turn its lectern into a pulpit”.

    Arno Widmann , head of the features section of the Frankfurter Rundschau , criticized in an editorial the criticism expressed primarily by church and Union politicians that some members of the Bundestag - as they publicly announced - wanted to boycott the Pope's speech in the Bundestag. Such a boycott is by no means “undemocratic and intolerant”, but the “right” of parliamentarians. It is also not "shabby and primitive" to oppose the church's monopoly claim, but rather to want to enforce it.

    Jakob Augstein, on the other hand, called for more respect for the Church in a Spiegel Online column and emphasized the importance of the Pope and the Church for ethics: “It can't hurt to have someone in Rome who talks to us about the human condition speaks at a time when we believe we don't have to put up with anything, when we want to take precautions for everything and no longer run the risk of running - and in the end everyone dies. "

    Georg Paul Hefty , FAZ , described the speech as an "event of the century" and criticized the fact that there were many among those who listened away who would dump their own insecurity on the Pope in order not to have to admit their own helplessness towards the world.

    Heribert Prantl comments for the Süddeutsche Zeitung : “But the MPs who refused to allow Benedict XVI. Listening to it in the Bundestag only got him more attention. He deserved it because he gave a great and humane speech - in which he professed basic and human rights. ”The commitment to human rights also affects the position of lay people and women in the church and the church hierarchy, the Pope could not disregard them within the church.

    Joachim Frank, Berliner Zeitung , says the Pope put his critics to shame. He “did not tickle the secular state, polemicize against the pluralistic society or even preach morality”. He acknowledged the cultural and historical achievement of Christianity as an achievement of integration and justified the "inadequacy of a purely positivistic view of the world", which in his opinion was also due to the ecological movement, which in his opinion should be appreciated in this regard. "Quite stimulating and exciting food for thought", according to the author, lies in the addition and interpretation of human dignity in the "light of an 'ecology of man' and a 'dignity of nature'". However, the omission of a reference to the "centuries of persistent resistance" of his predecessors against fundamental rights and freedom of conscience should be criticized. Even the thesis that Christianity never imposed a legal order out of revelation was inconsistent.

    The concept of natural law introduced by the Pope in this context is criticized as the justification and basis of human and political action: Richard Kämmerlings , the world's leading feature editor , saw the speech primarily as an affirmation of Catholic sexual morality. Respecting nature in the Catholic sense would mean viewing homosexuality , abortion and contraception as "unnatural", after all, natural law is "not an academic matter, but the foundation of Catholic moral teaching". Thus, in his speech, the Pope clearly stated where, in his opinion, freedom should have its limits.

    Ines Kappert, taz , describes the speech as ambitious and as not surprising in terms of content. Why, the author asks, did the Pope fail to take the opportunity “to speak seriously to people in understandable words? Because the event is enough for him, because he is not interested in conveying clerical convictions, but in appearing in prominent places. ”It is therefore justified for protesters to describe an“ eventization of democracy ”as a problem.

    Evaluation of the visit

    Archbishop Robert Zollitsch said that there had been a “new impetus” in the question of “how I can believe in God today”, but at the same time admitted that the Pope had challenged the German Catholics. The Pope also did not come "to give ready-made solutions".

    Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck said that the Pope's visit was an “important and strengthening sign for the Catholic Church in Germany”, and that the Evangelical Church's disappointment with regard to ecumenism was due to the “too high expectations”.

    Alois Glück said, "The claim that the German Catholics are critical of Rome and the Pope has now really been refuted" and referred to the fact that tens of thousands of believers had attended the Pope's masses.

    Winfried Kretschmann , on the other hand, criticized the fact that internal church criticism "is too quickly presented as disloyal and disobedient instead of seeing that it is made out of concern" and that the church does not respond to "argumentative counter-protest". The Pope also did not provide any concrete solutions to the current problems.

    Catholic lay organizations like Wir sind Kirche fundamentally criticized the Pope's visit. So “no further impulses [for ecumenism] are to be expected from this Pope”, and “the Roman church leadership [...] gambled away every leap of faith in the decades of theological rapprochement through righteousness, rejection and official blockades”. Therefore, "the vast majority of believers [...] simply no longer want to follow the rigid arguments from Rome." The program of the visit was "unfortunately not a program of dialogue", but had "very clearly the religious, moral and also political claim to power" of the official church. Therefore it is now "right and duty for Christians not to hope for further steps of the church leadership, but to follow their own conscience".

    Theologians critical of the church like Hans Küng and David Berger saw it similarly . Alluding to the motto of the visit, which was "Where God is, there is future", Küng said, it was far more correct: "Where this Pope is, there is the past." Pope Benedict XVI. I promised an open ear and a “listening heart”, instead he responded “with a petrified heart” to the reform concerns of most German Christians. In return, Germany experienced four days of personality cult. Berger particularly criticized the speech in the Bundestag as “extremely dangerous”. The Pope has spoken out in favor of premodern natural law, which is beyond all democratic opinion-making. "Natural law forms the ideological basis for the Vatican, where it works closely with states such as Saudi Arabia and Iran at international law conferences in order to prevent the dismantling of laws that discriminate against women, religion critics and homosexuals".

    The Protestant Church was also “sobered”. Bishop Gerhard Ulrich said that he would have “wished for some information at least on concrete ecumenical problems”. In addition, the Pope's appeal for “loyalty to Rome” “clearly demonstrated the different understandings of the church between the denominations”.

    Strong criticism came from associations that campaign for victims of sexual abuse . In the selection of the five victims of abuse with whom the Pope spoke, the associations were not taken into account, while the meeting followed the pattern of “denial, concealment and cover-up”. The victims also bounced off the church "as if from a wall".

    literature

    See also

    Web links

    Commons : Pope's visit to Germany 2011  - collection of images, videos and audio files

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ a b Press release from March 15, 2011: Pope's visit 2011 - Logo, motto and itinerary presented ( Memento from September 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
    2. ↑ web.archive.org ( Memento of November 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
    3. ↑ Press release from June 15, 2011: Papal service in the Berlin Olympic Stadium ( Memento from June 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
    4. ↑ Press release of April 12, 2011: Apostolic Journey from September 22 to 25, 2011 ( Memento of February 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
    5. ^ Press release of July 20, 2011: Program of the Apostolic Journey of Pope Benedict XVI. ( Memento from August 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
    6. ↑ web.archive.org ( Memento from June 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
    7. ↑ tagesschau.de ( Memento from September 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
    8. ↑ Video: The Word for Sunday - Pope Benedict XVI. speaks the word for Sunday
    9. ^ Text of the report on Vatican Radio . Website radiovaticana.org. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
    10. ↑ Honorary escort for the Pope. Luftwaffe , September 22, 2011, accessed September 27, 2011 .
    11. ^ Text of the speech of Benedict XVI. in front of the Bundestag on vatican.va
    12. ↑ Almost two thirds of the left stay away from the Pope's speech ( Memento from September 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Stern from September 22, 2011
    13. ^ Anti-Pope demo report in the taz on September 23, 2011
    14. ^ Homepage of the Alliance against the Pope's visit
    15. ↑ Mass with 61,000 believers in the Olympic Stadium. Archdiocese of Berlin , September 23, 2011, archived from the original on September 29, 2011 ; Retrieved September 25, 2011 .
    16. ↑ "No power to dogmas" . Website world online. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
    17. ↑ Benedict meets abuse victims . Website mirror online. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
    18. ↑ report on spiegel.de
    19. ↑ www.welt.de: Pope calls Muslims a feature of Germany
    20. ↑ The papal visit should cost 25 million euros in the Tagesspiegel of July 11, 2011
    21. ↑ a b The Pope in the Olympic Stadium ( Memento from June 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Press release of the Archdiocese of Berlin from September 5, 2011
    22. ↑ Carsten Frerk: Pope visit for more than 50 million. Humanistic Press Service, August 5, 2011, accessed August 18, 2011 .
    23. ↑ Pastoral letter on the Pope's visit in 2011. Archdiocese of Berlin , September 18, 2011, archived from the original on September 26, 2011 ; Retrieved September 25, 2011 .
    24. ↑ Thüringer Allgemeine : All tents for Pope's visit in Eichsfeld sold to subsequent users (September 6, 2011)
    25. ^ Dietrich Roeschmann: Exhibitions: The disguised summit cross , December 16, 2011, accessed on April 6, 2012
    26. ↑ Survey: Only a third think the Pope's visit is good. In: Zeit-Online , August 28, 2011. Accessed on August 28, 2011. More detailed article: Survey: Majority wants reforms in the Catholic Church , Zeit-Online, August 28, 2011.
    27. ^ Society for market and social research: The Pope in Germany
    28. ↑ Benedict XVI. leaves the Germans cold. In: stern.de . September 14, 2011, accessed September 15, 2011 .
    29. ↑ News t-online, December 17, 2010 ( online )
    30. ↑ a b c d German Bundestag: Pope Benedict XVI. speaks in the German Bundestag. Website of the German Bundestag. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
    31. ↑ Abendblatt, online
    32. ↑ Ecumenism an »important concern« ( Memento from September 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
    33. ↑ List of guest speakers in the German Bundestag
    34. ↑ a b The Pope in front of empty chairs . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , September 21, 2011. Accessed September 21, 2011.
    35. ↑ An attempt at proselytizing . In: Spiegel , September 21, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
    36. ↑ Staying away as an act of solidarity . In: Tagesschau.de , September 21, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
    37. ↑ a b EKD chairman is against the Pope's speech in the Bundestag . In: Welt Online from December 23, 2010
    38. ↑ Ströbele wants to protest against the Pope's speech in parliament . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung from December 16, 2010
    39. ↑ Report Munich: Video: Pope's visit to Germany - The opponents make mobile manuscript ( Memento from November 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
    40. ^ Criticism of the Pope's speech in parliament . In: Der Tagesspiegel , September 9, 2011. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
    41. ↑ Greens: Künast stops opponents of the Pope . In: Der Spiegel . No. 51 , 2010, p. 20 ( online ).
    42. ↑ Ströbele wants to protest against the Pope's speech in parliament . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung from December 16, 2010
    43. ^ Letter from Rolf Schwanitz in full
    44. ^ SPD politicians want to boycott the Pope's speech . In: Rheinische Post from June 25, 2011
    45. ↑ Germany argues about the Pope's visit . In: Hamburger Abendblatt , September 9, 2011. Accessed September 9, 2011.
    46. ^ Call for boycott against Pope's speech rejected ( Memento of June 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). In: Rheinische Post (online offer) from June 26, 2011
    47. ↑ Declaration on the alleged "call to boycott" ( Memento of August 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
    48. ^ Abendblatt: Germany argues about the Pope's visit
    49. ↑ Pope without plenary . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 2, 2011
    50. ^ Criticism of the Pope's speech in parliament . In: Der Tagesspiegel , September 9, 2011. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
    51. ^ Protests against the pontiff . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 13, 2011. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
    52. ↑ a b Bishops criticize the planned boycott of the Pope's speech. In: tagesschau.de . September 14, 2011, archived from the original on September 24, 2011 ; Retrieved September 14, 2011 .
    53. ↑ Pope visit: CSU calls boycott of the left "shabby" . In: Berliner Morgenpost , September 16, 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
    54. ^ Pope boycott: Union politicians are outraged by the Left Party . In: Junge Freiheit , September 13, 2011. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
    55. ↑ The Pope speaks as head of state . In: Der Tagesspiegel , September 21, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
    56. ↑ Minister Aigner calls Linke tasteless . In: RP-Online , September 13, 2011. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
    57. ↑ MPs want to boycott Pope's speech . In: FAZ , September 14, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
    58. ^ Criticism of the planned Bundestag appearance . In: Focus-Online , September 17, 2011. Accessed September 17, 2011.
    59. ↑ Pros and Cons: Can the Pope speak in the Bundestag? ( Memento of September 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). In: Financial Times Deutschland , September 21, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
    60. ↑ Hans-Jochen Vogel defends the Pope's speech in the Bundestag ( Memento from February 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). In: Hannover Zeitung , September 13, 2011. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
    61. ↑ A large part of the opposition wants to boycott the Pope's speech
    62. ↑ Debate about the Pope's visit to Germany is intensifying . In: Welt-Online , September 15, 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
    63. ↑ The Pope drives a wedge into Berlin politics . In: Handelsblatt , September 21, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
    64. ↑ Meisner compares Pope critics with possessed , Der Westen, September 16, 2011
    65. ↑ Bishop defends Pope's visit . In: Mittelbayerische.de , September 14, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
    66. ^ Archbishop Zollitsch "Pope's speech will be a touchstone for German politicians" In: Focus , April 22, 2011. Accessed on August 26, 2011.
    67. ↑ The Faith Healer . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , September 16, 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
    68. ↑ Feel “Reality in 2011”. Roth defends Pope's criticism . In: ntv.de , September 15, 2011. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
    69. ^ Vatican: Pope was invited , n-tv, Friday, September 16, 2011
    70. ↑ Visit to the German Bundestag. Address by Pope Benedict XVI.
    71. ^ Press release of the Humanist Union of November 19, 2011
    72. ↑ a b c Rosa I. against Benedict XVI. - Protest before the Pope's visit. In: taz.de . August 29, 2011, accessed September 14, 2011 .
    73. ↑ derpapstkommen.lsvd.de
    74. ↑ a b c Benedict's visit: Wowereit shows sympathy for opponents of the Pope. In: SPIEGEL Online . August 26, 2011, accessed September 14, 2011 .
    75. ↑ derpapstkommen.lsvd.de
    76. ↑ derpapstkommen.de
    77. ^ A b Benedict XVI .: Authorities forbid protests against the Pope's visit. In: SPIEGEL Online . August 28, 2011, accessed September 14, 2011 .
    78. ↑ Demonstration call network B.
    79. ↑ Demonstrations against the Pope's visit: "Heidenspaß instead of hellish fear". In: Thuringian General . August 5, 2011, accessed September 14, 2011 .
    80. ↑ Freiburg's green mayor: 'Maintain respect for the church'. In: kath.net . September 14, 2011, accessed on September 14, 2011 (interview).
    81. ↑ Pope - Power - Future? Panel discussion. Worship service for seekers and the marginalized. (PDF; 206 kB)
    82. ↑ Ines Pohl : At the wrong time in the wrong place. In: taz , September 16, 2011 ( online )
    83. ↑ The Faith Healer . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , September 16, 2011. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
    84. ↑ Jakob Augstein: Papa is the best , Spiegel Online, September 22, 2011
    85. ↑ Pope's speech in the Bundestag: the dignity of the earth . Website of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved September 24, 2011.
    86. ↑ Benedict XVI. in Germany - Faith is enraged . Website of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
    87. ↑ Benedict XVI. in Germany - Faith drives you into a rage (page 2) . Website of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
    88. ↑ With a green message ( memento from September 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). Berliner Zeitung website at berlinonline.de. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
    89. ↑ Against everything that is against human nature . In: Die Welt , September 23, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
    90. ↑ The Pope, who has nothing to say . Website of the daily newspaper. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
    91. ↑ a b c d e After the Pope's visit. “Where this Pope is, there is the past” . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . September 26, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
    92. ↑ a b c The Pope's visit leaves many questions unanswered. ( Memento from September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . September 26, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
    93. ↑ a b Benedict ends his visit to Germany. Pope criticizes "worldliness". In: ntv.de , September 25, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
    94. ↑ Statement on the Pope's visit to Wir-sind-Kirche.de. Retrieved October 4, 2011
    95. ↑ David Berger: "A very dangerous speech". In: hpd.de , September 27, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2011.