"No man is without flaws" - Mourners bid farewell to Pope Benedict XVI.
Created: 01/01/2023, 19:50
By: Katarina Amtmann
Pope Benedict XVI
is dead. The grief in his birthplace Marktl am Inn and in his former place of residence near Regensburg is great.
Marktl am Inn/Pentling - Pope Benedict XVI.
died on the morning of December 31, 2022.
In his native Bavaria, the news caused sadness on the last day of the year.
Mourning for Pope Benedict XVI.
in Bavaria
For the retired Pope, Bavaria was more than home.
It was the place he longed for, he would have liked to spend the rest of his life there.
After his death, there was great grief in Benedikt's birthplace Marktl am Inn and in his former place of residence near Regensburg.
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Pope Benedict XVI
died: mourning in the place of birth Marktl am Inn
A white rose stands on black velvet, a candle provides light.
In this room in Marktl am Inn (district of Altötting), the longstanding head of the Catholic Church saw the light of day in 1927 as Joseph Ratzinger.
The house where he was born therefore opened its doors outside of the usual times.
Shortly after Benedikt's death, a rainbow appeared near Marktl.
"Dear Holy Father, in grateful memory of personal conversations with you, we have come here in mourning," write visitors in Marktl in the book of condolences.
At the Pope's Column next door, people have lit some candles.
Some have come from far away.
A 61-year-old Austrian says that is more important than "igniting any rockets".
The Pope's Column is in front of the birthplace of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
to see.
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
"No one is without flaws" - Mourners bid farewell to Pope Benedict XVI.
After the news of his death, Kurt and Annemarie Spennesberger made their way from the Allgäu to Ratzinger's place of birth to honor him.
"I see him as he was, as a person.
No one is without flaws," says Kurt Spennesberger in response to criticism of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
not least in connection with his role in dealing with the abuse scandal.
Because of this, a shadow had cast over Benedict's work in recent years.
In some places, among other things, the withdrawal of honorary citizenship had even been discussed.
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Christiane Hartwig from Marktl says Benedict XVI.
have done a lot for the faith and always tried to strengthen people in it;
he had moved a lot with his theological statements.
Nevertheless, the abuse scandal had “very shaken”.
And further: "That has sometimes made me doubt."
Joseph Ratzinger did not want to be elected Pope
For the service on the late Saturday afternoon, December 31, the Marktler parish church of St. Oswald is almost full with around 200 people.
Right next to the baptismal font, where Joseph Ratzinger was baptized with the first holy Easter water a few hours after his birth on April 16, 1927, is a photo of him after his election to the pope - which he himself had not wished for.
Mourning for Pope Benedict XVI.
© Lennart Preiss/dpa +++ dpa picture radio +++
"I'm just a simple, humble worker in the Lord's vineyard," it says - he said that at the time without hiding that he was already preparing for a quiet retirement in Pentling (Regensburg district) - not least to get closer to his To be his brother Georg, who lived in Regensburg and with whom he had a close relationship.
Sister Maria ran his household, so the three siblings spent a lot of time together.
Her parents, who were buried in Traunstein, had her buried in Regensburg in 1974.
"Benedikt always felt like a Pentlinger"
And so on Saturday believers will also gather in Pentling for a funeral service in the church.
Mayor Barbara Wilhelm previously told the German Press Agency that Benedict "always felt like a Pentlinger, and in the community he was always seen as one of us".
The contact was never broken.
Delegations from the parish of Benedict visited the Vatican again and again, and there was also lively correspondence.
Benedikt entered his house in Pentling for the last time in 2020.
At that time he surprisingly traveled to Regensburg to see his dying brother.
At the same time, it was a moving farewell to the homeland of his heart.
Benedikt was visibly touched by the meeting with his former neighbors.
Because even when he - at that time still Joseph Ratzinger - became archbishop of Munich and Freising in 1977 and prefect of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican in 1982, he kept his house in Pentling.
He always returned there for vacations.
(came/dpa)
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