Pope's visit as a signal

Pope's visit as a signal

German Education Minister Annette Schavan arrived Wednesday for talks with Pope Benedict XVI. and high representatives of the curia. The head of the church received the Catholic politician for a personal conversation after the general audience. Among other things, the subject was the Pope's visit to Germany.

Schavan described the atmosphere of the meeting afterwards as extremely friendly. She told the Pope that Germany was looking forward to seeing him. She also mentioned the situation of the church in the capital. Berlin is not a godless city, says Schavan. "Many people are on the way and are looking for God."The Pope replied that he, too, was looking forward to the trip to Berlin and to Germany. Schavan said she was confident it would be an "interesting and important visit". The capital is an example of increasing religious diversity. "There will be an enormous crowd to Berlin, at some point people will start placing bets," the Union politician expressed her conviction. She was responding to concerns that the Pope's visit would draw few people to Berlin. Moreover, the trip is of great importance for ecumenism.

This week it became known that Benedict would extend his stay in Erfurt because of the meeting with Protestant church representatives. The second overnight stay was related to the pope's "wish to meet with the Protestant church," it said. The Protestant Augustinian Monastery and the Catholic St. Mary's Cathedral are being discussed as places for ecumenical encounters.

The Pope's visit in September was also the central theme of a meeting with the Vatican's ecumenical officer, the Swiss Curia Cardinal Kurt Koch. Schavan said she would like to see a large papal service in Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate. "The symbol of unity, where dictatorships wanted to drive God out of the city, could be just the right place for a celebration with the Pope." She reckoned with 200.000 pilgrims to meet the head of the church in the German capital.

Pope's visit as a sign
Schavan and Koch stressed that the Pope's visit must be a signal to raise again the question of God in modern society. "Berlin is also a city of God-seekers," Schavan said. Catholicism was originally an "urban religion", Koch agreed with her. "As a church, we must not give up on the cities in particular."

Schavan's two-day visit to Rome focused on talks about the role of theology in the current university landscape and the establishment of Islamic faculties in Germany. Among others, the minister met with the president of the Vatican Congregation for Education, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, and the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Jean-Louis Tauran. Schavan to return to Germany on Thursday.

Zollitsch talks with Pope about trip to Germany
The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, also arrived on Thursday for talks with Pope Benedict XVI. met. The focus was on the newly initiated dialogue process in the German church and the Pope's visit to Germany planned for September, Zollitsch explained afterwards.

The pope is very much looking forward to the trip to Germany, the conference chairman said. With regard to the inner-church dialogue, Benedict XVI hopes that., that this will be a "good spiritual process". The conversation between Zollitsch and the Pope lasted about 45 minutes.

Zollitsch has already been in Rome since Wednesday for his regular visit following the plenary assembly of the Bishops' Conference. Among other things, he held talks with the president of the Vatican Ecumenical Council, Cardinal Kurt Koch.


Marx: Pope should show limits of state power in Berlin
Cardinal Reinhard Marx hopes for Pope Benedict XVI. during his visit to Berlin on 22. September groundbreaking words to politicians. As during his visit to England last year, the Pope should point out the danger to democracy posed by an excessive claim to power by the state, said the Archbishop of Munich and Freising in Berlin on Wednesday evening. He made the remarks at a Guardini Foundation event on "Power and Faith".

Benedict XVI. had warned in the British Parliament against a state pushback of religion into the private sphere. In the debate on social values, religion must take on a corrective role, the Pope demanded. As part of his visit to Germany from 22. to 25. The Pope will also address the Bundestag in September.

Marx stressed that limiting state power is a necessary condition of modern democracy. The religious communities can make these boundaries clear, but they need appropriate freedom to do so. Among other topics, the cardinal mentioned pre-implantation diagnostics and nuclear energy. However, they should not appear "in the language of the omniscient".

The Prague philosopher Tomas Halik also called it a "prophetic task" of the church to "disenchant the power of the state and the economy.". However, the scandals surrounding the sexual abuse of minors by clergymen had damaged her credibility because this had also been an abuse of power. This makes it all the more important for the Church to adopt an attitude of humility in public debates.

The Guardini Foundation promotes conversation between faith, science and art. It cites Romano Guardini (1885-1968), who gave widely acclaimed lectures on "Philosophy of Religion and Catholic Worldview" from 1923 to 1939.

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Christina Cherry
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