My last meeting with Benedict XVI: Pastor tells of "moving encounter"

Created: 2023-01-02 19:02

By: Josef Ametsbichler

Egmating's pastor Kurt Riemhofer sits on October 12, 2022 to the right of Benedict XVI, who ordained him more than 40 years ago - when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

The three of them visited the retired Pope in the Vatican.

© Georg Gänswein

Pastor Kurt Riemhofer, pastor in Egmating and in Stadelheim Prison, was one of the last people from the region to meet Pope Benedict XVI.

Egmating/Rome

– When Kurt Riemhofer heard about the death of Benedict XVI on New Year's Eve.

finds out, he immediately rushes out into the sacristy of the parish church of St. Johann Baptist and rings the bells.

"That makes me sad," he says to EZ on the phone.

The Egmatingen pastor was probably the last citizen from the Ebersberg district to meet the retired Pope.

On October 10, 1982, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger ordained him with eight other students from the Germanicum in the Church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome.

Exactly 40 years and two days later, on October 12, 2022, it worked out for three from this priest course with a last visit - the trio spent an hour with their auxiliary bishop in the monastery Mater Ecclesiae in the Vatican, Benedict's retirement home.

Egmatinger meets Pope Emeritus: Fragile - but mentally fit to the end

"It was a moving encounter," says Riemhofer.

The pope seemed very frail and sunk in on himself.

Leaning forward, he found it difficult to breathe and speak.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Benedict's private secretary to the end, "interpreted" Benedict's breathed words into the group.

"Mentally, however, he was in top form," says Riemhofer, who was a prison chaplain in Stadelheim for around a quarter of a century before he came to Egmating.

Benedikt recognized him by his name and asked him about his places of work in Stadelheim and Egmating.

You can read more news from the Ebersberg region here.

By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Ebersberg newsletter. 

Learned humility towards people from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

"He was a role model for me," says Riemhofer.

Despite recent criticism of dealing with child abuse (see box below) - mistakes that Egmating's pastor attributes to bad advisors.

He learned humility from Ratzinger: "Always to look at other people as human beings, with all their worries, mistakes and problems," summarizes Riemhofer.

"He lived that himself."

At the end of the audience, the three former student priests prayed with Benedict XVI.

and had Bishop Gänswein take a souvenir photo.

After several encounters, Kurt Riemhofer's farewell to "his" papa emeritus was a farewell forever.

The pastor says that Benedict was not afraid of death: "He trustingly placed his life in God's hands."

Also read: When the later Pope was a guest in the district - and consecrated a church

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While residents celebrate New Year's Eve: a stranger breaks into the house and steals 6,000 euros

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Accidents in the district: the main problem is carelessness

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Mourning for Zorneding's "Memory for Local History"

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Fancy a voyage of discovery?

My space

Background: The case of Peter H.

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- A comprehensive, independent report by the Munich law firm WSW on the handling of the Munich Archdiocese with cases of child abuse brought Benedict XVI.

At the beginning of 2022 he was in serious trouble - also with regard to his actions in the Ebersberg district.

So he had let the proven pedophile clergyman Peter H. to Grafing.

He was a pastor there from 1982 to 1985 and molested several children.

According to the report, Cardinal Ratzinger was "predominantly likely" to have known about the priest's tendencies and actions beforehand.

The Pope Emeritus had denied any such knowledge - he did not know the priest and had no recollection of the case.

He did not take part in a meeting that was decisive for the report.

However, meeting documents suggest that this was a false statement.