Regensburg honorary citizen Pope Benedict XVI: It takes two-thirds of the city council to revoke it

Created: 02/14/2022, 13:58

By: Stefan Aigner

Pope Benedict during his visit to Regensburg in 2006.

© Günter Staudinger

The Mayor of Regensburg speaks out against hasty decisions in the discussion about the honorary citizenship of the Pope Emeritus.  

Regensburg – What about the honorary citizenship for Benedict XVI in Regensburg*?

As in Traunstein, Marktl am Inn and other Upper Bavarian communities, the district capital of the Upper Palatinate is also discussing the honorary citizenship of the retired Pope.

The background to this are allegations in the Munich abuse report that Joseph Ratzinger made in connection with his time as Archbishop of Munich and Freising.

Even after a recent statement by Joseph Ratzinger, which many concerned criticized as insufficient, this discussion does not die down.

Debate on Pope Benedict's honorary citizenship: "You definitely need time for that"

Already at the end of January, the Mayor of Regensburg, Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer, declared that those affected by sexual violence absolutely owe it to them to deal with this issue.

Several factions in the Regensburg city council joined this position.

"If there are indications that an honorary citizen does not deserve this dignity, then it must be discussed - this also applies to a pope," says Green Party leader Stefan Christoph.

And currently there is “more than enough evidence” for this assumption.

Last week, at a meeting of the education committee, the mayor specified her plans for further action.

Two-thirds of the Regensburg city council would have to vote for the deprivation of the honorary citizenship that Joseph Ratzinger was awarded in 2006 on the occasion of his visit to the cathedral city.

Therefore, every political group represented there should now think intensively about the topic.

"It must not be a quick shot," says Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer.

"You definitely need time for that."

After abuse report: Diocese of Regensburg sets up an exit phone

While the discussion about municipal honors is likely to continue, the number of people leaving the church in Regensburg is also exploding.

In the meantime, the diocese has even set up its own exit telephone.

However, this should not only be due to the discussion about Joseph Ratzinger, but also to statements by Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer.

He even made it into the Tagesschau with a statement during the bishops' discussion on the synodal path in Frankfurt.

In the whole discussion about the Munich abuse report and the handling of abuse by the church in the 1970s and 1980s, the penal law reform in the 1970s came up short, said the Bishop of Regensburg.

In the course of this, sexual abuse was no longer classified as a crime, according to Voderholzer, "on the basis of sexology judgments that assume that the interrogations are much worse for the children and young people affected than the basically harmless cases of abuse “.

After relativization: Bishop of Regensburg asks for forgiveness

Representatives of those affected were visibly shocked by Voderholzer's statements - despite the declaration that he did not adopt this view and that he considered the trivialization of sexual abuse to be devastating.

In a later apology, Voderholzer asked for forgiveness for his statements: "People, especially victims of abuse, feel offended by me, hurt, are outraged.

It makes me sad and almost makes me despair.

I'm sorry.

My concern is precisely: genuine commitment to the victims, an unequivocal fight against the perpetrators and constant efforts to come to terms with the past, to provide information and, above all, to prevent it.”

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