Benedikt's farewell: brass band plays the Bavarian anthem in the Vatican - and Marx sings a "happy birthday" to Söder
Created: 01/05/2023 15:35
The brass band of the Unterpfaffenhofen volunteer fire brigade played the Bavarian anthem on Petersplatz.
© Claudia Moellers
Mountain riflemen, traditional costumes, brass band: Bavarians prepare a blue and white farewell for Benedict in the Vatican.
At lunch it's suddenly about Markus Söder.
Munich – You got up in the middle of the night, traveled to Rome by plane or hour-long bus ride to “your” Bavarian Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
to give the last goodbye.
People in traditional costume are there, Bavarian mountain riflemen - and at the end of the funeral mass on Thursday the brass band of the Unterpfaffenhofen volunteer fire brigade plays the Bavarian anthem: "Gott mit Dir Du Land der Bayern" - half a prayer.
Benedict would have liked it.
Benedict XIV: "Pope Pilot" flies Söder and Co. to Rome - Bavarian anthem sounds at St. Peter's Square
"Bavaria was a place of longing for him," said Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), who had traveled to Rome with a large delegation.
On his birthday.
Which should have some aftermath.
A whole bus of Bavarian politicians was on the way – including Deputy Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters), President of the Landtag Ilse Aigner and former Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber (both CSU).
The son of the "Pope pilot" Martin Ott had flown the special machine to Rome with Söder's delegation.
His father, also a Lufthansa pilot, had been on the papal special mission twice in 2005 and 2006.
Edmund Stoiber, Hubert Aiwanger and Ilse Aigner in the Bavarian bus to St. Peter's Square in Rome.
© Claudia Moellers
Hundreds of believers from the Free State will also take part in the ceremony on St. Peter's Square - alongside around 130 cardinals and top politicians from Germany and other countries.
You can watch how Benedikt's longtime confidant and private secretary Georg Gänswein bends over the coffin and kisses it before the service.
How Pope Francis preaches the sermon.
Benedict's spectacular resignation in 2013 made it possible for one pope to bury another.
Traditionally, the papal office ends with death.
When the simple wooden coffin is brought into St. Peter's Basilica after the requiem, the brass band of the Unterpfaffenhofen volunteer fire brigade begins to play.
The mountain riflemen sing along with the Bavarian anthem and salute.
Benedict buried: Protestant Söder "moved" - Traunsteiner, Pentlinger and Regensburger travel
Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict XVI's real name, came from Marktl am Inn in Upper Bavaria.
He went to school in Traunstein, his adopted home was Pentling in the district of Regensburg.
Members of the Pentling volunteer fire brigade are now standing at the front of St. Peter's Square, carrying banners: "To honor the dead - Pentling community".
He actually wanted to spend the rest of his life in Pentling, close to his brother Georg.
But then he became Pope.
Benedikt was no longer able to return home.
There are also student associations from Regensburg, among others – Benedikt was an honorary member.
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A group from Traunstein travels to Benedict's funeral.
© Claudia Moellers
Söder reports that when he visited Rome, Benedikt was always the first to ask what was new in Bavaria.
When it came to gifts, Benedikt was most happy about a Bavarian basket with white sausages, wheat beer and delicacies.
For him, as a Bavarian Protestant, it was also a moving day and important to escort the retired Pope, says Söder.
Benedict was "a brilliant theologian, a great intellectual and philosopher, a humble person, a modest person".
And just: "a Bavarian".
Söder "incident" at lunch: Cardinal Marx sings "happy birthday"
The 170-strong Prime Minister's delegation also includes half the cabinet and several group leaders.
Cardinal Reinhard Marx will be present for the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, where Benedict was Archbishop from 1977 to 1982 as Cardinal Ratzinger.
In the afternoon Marx wants to have Vespers in the church of the German-speaking Catholic community S. Maria dell'Anima.
Before that, however, he sings a birthday song – in honor of Söder.
Bild
journalist Daniel Cremer films the insert: "Happy birthday, dear Markus, happy birthday to you," it says at lunch.
The KNA news agency confirmed the incident.
For the visitors from the Free State, the day of the funeral is not the day for critical voices.
But even in his beloved homeland, the former pontiff, who was considered to be strictly conservative and was the head of the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013, was not without controversy.
At home, some called the Ratzinger, who was considered strict, “tank cardinal”.
Most recently, allegations of dealing with cases of abuse during his time as Archbishop of Munich and Freising cast a shadow over his work.
In some places there was even discussion about the withdrawal of honorary citizenship.
Benedikt's farewell: Bavaria's mountain riflemen feel "warmly connected"
The thinker and intellectual also spoke the language of ordinary people, he could listen - and was shaped by the popular piety of his Bavarian homeland.
This connected him with traditional costumes and mountain riflemen, of which he was an honorary member.
"He was a Marian worshiper - and the mountain riflemen have the Mother of God as their patroness," says Governor Martin Haberfellner.
This "unity in spirit" created a connection.
"We have a warm bond with him - and he had a warm bond with us." At the end of December he had already assured the
Münchner Merkur
that the mountain riflemen were "on standby" for Benedict.
The mountain riflemen have now dispensed with the usual colorful flowers on their hats.
Instead: black ties.
Nevertheless, with their uniforms, they are a splash of color among the mostly black-clad mourners on St. Peter's Square, it is said to have been 50,000.
(
Sabine Dobel/dpa/fn
)
