Munich Catholics celebrate Corpus Christi: rush to procession through the city
Created: 2022-06-16Updated: 2022-06-16, 4:16 p.m
By: Claudia Schuri
Young people marched through Munich with a large cross in the Corpus Christi procession.
© Marcus sleep
Munich's Catholics celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi with a festive service and a magnificent procession.
The war in Ukraine was also a topic.
For two years, Munich's Catholics had to do without the big Corpus Christi procession through the city - but yesterday it was that time again: Led by a cross carried by young people, more than 10,000 people moved after a festival service on Marienplatz via Residenzstraße to the Ludwigskirche to the altar of blessing and via Theatinerstraße back to Marienplatz.
Prime Minister Markus Söder also attended the fair.
Prime Minister Markus Söder also took part in the celebration of Corpus Christi at Marienplatz.
© Marcus sleep
Cardinal Reinhard Marx thanked all those who bring the Christian faith to the public in times of crisis and live it in commitment "for peace, for reconciliation, for the refugees from Ukraine" and from many other parts of the world.
He was deeply moved by the news of the war in Ukraine, which "was unleashed by a brutal aggressor".
The celebration of the Eucharist allows a glimpse of "a God present in the basements of Mariupol".
An "abyss of violence and oppression" and the "fragility of life" have also become clear in many other areas in recent years, "including in the Church," said the archbishop.
It must be reiterated: "We will not let these forces of evil have the last word."
On Corpus Christi, the "solemnity of the body and blood of Christ", Catholics show their faith in the presence of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
They carry the Holy of Holies, Christ in the form of a consecrated host, in an ornately decorated monstrance through the streets and pray for God's blessing at several altars.
Corpus Christi was declared an official church festival in 1264 by Pope Urban IV.