"He was just one of us": After the death of Pope Benedict XVI.

- Citizens remember encounters

Created: 01/04/2023, 20:00

By: Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

Great honor for the Wolfratshausen Mountain Rifle Company: in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI.

the delegation to a private audience.

© Private

The death of Pope Benedict XVI is still worrying.

with the believers for great sadness.

District citizens now remember their encounters with the former pontiff from Bavaria.

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen – The death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

has caused great sadness among believers worldwide.

District citizens remember encounters with the former pontiff.

On the death of Pope Benedict XVI: District citizens remember encounters

"News like this doesn't just go past you," says Kreisbrandrat Erich Zengerle, who received the holy sacrament of confirmation from the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the Eglingen Church of St. Sebald a year before he moved to Rome.

Another encounter followed in 2006. Zengerle, then commander of the Eglingen fire brigade, was a member of the district fire brigade when Pope Benedict XVI.

celebrated a trade fair in Munich-Riem during his visit to Germany.

A message like this doesn't just go past you.

District Fire Councilor Erich Zengerle on the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

The fire brigade forces supported the police and security services under the direction of the district fire inspector at the time, Christian Sydoriak.

"Pope Benedict passed us about two meters away in the popemobile," Zengerle looks back.

Pope Benedict XVI

dead: "People cheered him on like a pop star"

Sydoriak can still remember the encounter well.

"He was charismatic," says Geretsrieder about the deceased.

“People cheered him on like a pop star.” He kept two souvenirs himself: the accreditation card and a yellow and white scarf, “the colors of Benedict, which we all received”.

A second time Sydoriak met the Pope in Rome.

A delegation from the district fire brigade association was standing at the front of St. Peter's Square as the Holy Father passed by.

"When he realized that we were from Bavaria, he stopped and said a few words," said the former district fire inspector.

Still a cardinal at the time: Joseph Ratzinger (left) visited Wolfratshausen in 1978.

The photo shows him with the then mayor Erich Brockard.

© Archive

Ewald Brückl, former captain of the Wolfratshausen Mountain Rifle Company, came even closer to him.

Brückl traveled to Rome for the first time in 1987 as part of a delegation led by then Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss to celebrate Ratzinger's 60th birthday.

"Back then, John Paul II was still Pope," he recalls.

15 years later the Wolfratshauser left for Italy again.

"The mountain riflemen went to Rome to congratulate Cardinal Ratzinger on his 75th birthday." An unforgettable experience, especially because the Tegernsee Mountain Rifle Company (of which Ratzinger was an honorary member) fired the salute.

"There have never been Germans shooting the salute in Rome."

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Memories of Pope Benedict XVI: "But of course I know Wolfratshausen"

What particularly impressed Brückl was that the then pontifex greeted every guest with a handshake and spoke a few personal words.

"Yes, do you know Wolfratshausen?" Brückl asked during the private audience when he brought the congratulations from Loisachstadt.

Benedict XVI

affirmed.

"But of course I know Wolfratshausen," he said.

"That's where my former classmate Annemarie Eichner-Happ lives.

Say hello to her from me!” The long-serving pharmacist and the later German Pope attended high school in Traunstein together in the 1940s.

The contact never broke off, also thanks to numerous class reunions.

that Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Ratzinger even paid a visit to Wolfratshausen once, as evidenced by a picture from 1978 showing him together with former mayor Erich Brockard in his office.

"He invited me one day for a private audience," says Brockard.

The reason for this was that Ratzinger wanted to know everything about Saint Nantovinus, who was martyred in Wolfratshausen in 1286.

In the course of the conversation, Brockard issued an invitation to Wolfratshausen.

Pope Benedict XVI

dead: "He was just one of us"

The upcoming confirmations - including those of Brockard's son Christian - were mentioned as an occasion.

“I spoke to our then parish priest, Wimmer, who agreed that Ratzinger would do it.” After the service, Brockard and the minister met at City Hall.

"I'm taking the best memories with me and I'd be happy if I could visit your beautiful city again," the guest thanked.

Unfortunately, that was never to happen again.

Brockard: "But we wrote to each other."

Brückl saw the Holy Father twice, in 2006 and 2017. During the latter meeting, a delegation of mountain riflemen drove to Rome to congratulate the Pope, who has since resigned, on his 90th birthday.

The reception took place in the monastery Mater Ecclesiae, where Benedict XVI.

passed away last Saturday instead.

“A platform was set up in the garden,” Brückl recalls.

The emeritus pope was indeed a bit frail.

"Nevertheless, he got up to say thank you with a handshake for every single congratulation." The Wolfratshauser particularly appreciated the "reserved old Bavarian manner of the deceased. He was simply one of us."

You can read all the news from Wolfratshausen here.