Reactions to the death of Benedict XVI: "His passion was theology"

Created: 01/02/2023 10:27 am

By: Stefanie Zipfer

The commemoration of the deceased former Pope Benedict XVI was the focus of the services in the district of Dachau for the past two days, as here on New Year's Eve in St. Jakob.

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For some he was the "scholar pope", for others the "tank cardinal": What is he remembered for in the Dachau district?

The local newspaper asked.

Dachau

– The mourning for the former Pope Benedict XVI, who died on New Year's Eve, is also widespread in the Dachau district.

great.

Clergymen, but also laypeople, remember the highly educated “theologian pope” who always kept in touch with his homeland in Upper Bavaria.

Almost everyone agrees that Benedict was quite argumentative in some things.

Pastor Michael Bartmann

, head of the Röhrmoos-Hebertshausen parish association, met the deceased when he was still a student himself.

Benedict, who was Archbishop of Munich as Joseph Ratzinger at the time, appeared to the young people in the seminary as a “man with authority” who, according to Bartmann, “also had very human traits.

He did come to a course meeting of us students and then listened to our concerns and needs, and so it became very personal conversations.”

As a later cardinal of the Curia, he remembers Benedict “as a strict guardian of the faith who naturally tried to keep the church together.

That was certainly his intention as Pope, who was able to inspire the crowd.

But of course the conservative theologian, who found it difficult to deal with changes and changes, always came through.”

Bartmann remembers it as a “great sign” that Benedict “admitted the founder of the community of Taizè, Brother Roger, to communion at the funeral of his predecessor John Paul II and thus also showed great breadth and openness”.

In personnel management and selection, Bartmann also admits that Benedikt "didn't always have such a lucky hand, which has haunted him until recently".

Bartmann is also critical of Benedict's attitude towards Islam and the Protestant Church.

Most recently, "his initial silence or then his statement on the abuse report" caused unrest.

Nevertheless, the following remains for Bartmann in the end: "Behind the person of Benedikt lies the enormous lifetime achievement of a priest, professor, bishop and pope, which will certainly be read in great detail in history books."

Like Bartmann, Pastor Josef Mayer

, spiritual director of the Bildungshaus on the Petersberg, considers Benedict to be a "terrific theologian" but rather "unapproachable people".

As a student in the Munich seminary, Mayer had enthusiastically studied the books of Joseph Ratzinger;

the personal encounter with the archbishop at the time was then rather "distanced".

Was the former pontiff a good priest?

Mayer puts it this way: “His passion was theology.

Offices were not his strength.” Mayer deserves all the more respect that Benedict voluntarily resigned from his last office: “He admitted that he was overwhelmed as pope.

In principle, it was an admission of his own failure.” With this resignation he had done the church a “great service”.

Barbara Asselborn

, who is involved in the Heilig-Kreuz and St. Peter parish association and in the Dachau Forum, also appreciates that the Pope Emeritus "has subordinated his life entirely to the Catholic Church".

Nevertheless, Benedict “failed to lead his church into a more cosmopolitan, modernized future.

On the contrary, he stoically clung to his own worldview, his own truth, not realizing that worldviews and knowledge of truth change and have changed."

Asselborn believes that the Catholic Church now has “a long and difficult road ahead of it to reach people again”.

The Bergkirchner

is one of the vehement defenders of the deceased pontiff.

The 56-year-old graduate mechanical engineer was ordained a deacon just a year and a half ago after reading the books of the theologian Ratzinger.

"I was impressed by how deep his thoughts were," says Koch.

"In doing so, he paved the way for me to Christianity." Koch therefore regrets that Benedict - especially in Germany - was not understood by many or perhaps did not want to be understood at all.

"People often made it too easy for themselves when criticizing him." He is therefore still convinced that Benedict was "a worthy representative of Christ on earth" - even if his successor Francis is "the right pope for this time at the moment". may be.

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Dachau's

is too young to be able to get to know the former Pope personally like his colleagues Bartmann and Mayer.

Although there were encounters with the Bavarian Pope, according to Gnan, these were not enough “for me to get a picture of his personality”.

For him remains of Benedict XVI.

hence above all his "outstanding" theological-philosophical work, which - as Gnan regrets - "unfortunately not enough is recognized in its intrinsic value".

The desire for peace and the mourning for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died on New Year's Eve morning.

were the topics of the New Year's Eve prayers in the old town church of St. Jakob in Dachau.

At the beginning of the service, Pastor Benjamin Gnan commemorated the deceased Pope, who, as the former Archbishop of Munich and Freising, was also responsible for the Dachau parishes.

You can find more current news from the district of Dachau at Merkur.de/Dachau.