As of: March 9, 2024, 7:33 p.m
By: Claudia Möllers
Comments
Press
Split
In death, Alois Glück once again unites the entire political elite of the Free State in a state act.
Together they say goodbye to one of Bavaria's greats in a moving ceremony.
Munich – Alois Glück would have looked forward to this sunny late winter Saturday when the Free State had to say goodbye to him.
Politics, church and society bowed with a moving requiem and state act to a politician who reached the hearts of people across all party and denominational boundaries.
The CSU politician - long-time parliamentary group leader, former state parliament president, self-confident Catholic and walking mediation committee - died after a stroke on February 26th, a month after his 84th birthday.
Saying goodbye: Ilse Aigner and Markus Söder in front of Alois Glück's coffin.
© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand
Alois Glück looks intently at the mourners - with a quiet smile
Larger than life, the portrait of the physically small man during his lifetime stood to the left of his coffin in front of the altar steps of Munich's Liebfrauendom.
Alois Glück looked at the mourners with an intense gaze, the familiar, quiet smile playing around his mouth - the Pontifical Requiem was perfectly tailored to him from the beginning to the moving excerpt from Munich Cathedral.
Bavaria has said goodbye to one of its most influential politicians in the best possible manner.
Munich Cathedral Music and the Bavarian State Orchestra performed Mozart's Requiem a
From the music - the Munich Cathedral Music and the Bavarian State Orchestra performed Mozart's Requiem - to the touching sermon by Cardinal Reinhard Marx and the obituaries from State Parliament President Ilse Aigner, Prime Minister Markus Söder, CSU parliamentary group leader Klaus Holetschek and the President of the Central Committee of German Catholics, Irme Stetter-Karp, to the brilliant weather: everything came together to form a wistful and grateful tribute to an exceptional politician.
Marx on happiness: politics from below, from the poor, that was his point of view
“Blessed are those who make peace, for they will be called children of God,” it said in the Gospel - the cardinal had specifically chosen the Sermon on the Mount as a requiem for his long-time companion and comrade-in-arms Glück.
As the highest representative of the laity, Glück fought with Marx for reforms in the Catholic Church from 2009 to 2015.
The Cardinal praised the Sermon on the Mount as being lucky.
He played politics with the Beatitudes.
The Sermon on the Mount sets a horizon “that worries us but also strengthens us, that gives us a tailwind, that tells us: Blessed are the peacemakers, not the warmongers, not those who hate, who deepen the trenches, advance polarization, but the bridges build, make reconciliation possible on both a small and a large scale.
This is Catholic social teaching in its purest form.”
A politics from below, from the poor – that was Glück's point of view.
Without the churches, this Christian character would not exist, the CSU politician knew.
“He suffered from it, but he didn't let it deter him.
That impressed me deeply.”
Cardinal Marx on the sharp headwind that Alois Glück sometimes had to endure from the church.
But the cardinal also did not hide the fact that Alois Glück had to endure a lot within the church - "including from some senior shepherds" - without mentioning the dispute over pregnancy conflict counseling, church reforms and the abuse scandal.
Alois Glück criticized a sometimes “unloving tone” within the church: “He suffered from it, but he didn’t let himself be deterred.
“That impressed me deeply,” said Marx.
My news
32 mins ago
After ISS scrap warning: Green explosion lights up Bavaria's night sky reading
The warmest lake in Germany is in Bavaria - and sets a double record
“Sad past”: Trio of cats “desperately looking for a new home” read
The end of an era: traditional bakery has to close after 112 yearsread
Bought for 69 cents: Family discovers toad in salad bag - and takes animal in read
“March winter, late winter”: Meteorologist makes a clear announcement when reading the forecast
Waigel, Schavan, Köhler, Lammert, Stoiber: Everyone has tears in their eyes
When Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A major sounded at the end of the service, Theo Waigel, Annette Schavan and many other mourners - including former Federal President Horst Köhler, the former President of the Bundestag Norbert Lammert, Duke Franz of Bavaria, the former Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber - wiped their faces Tears from eyes.
State Parliament President Ilse Aigner thanked the pioneer, peacemaker, “really good friend and advisor Alois Glück” in her obituary.
She remembered that he went to the mountains to recharge his batteries, to be with himself.
“Think clearly, get out of the small and small.
Focus on what’s important,” she said.
The mountain gives you vision and at the same time keeps you grounded.
Luck showed democracy the direction: “By what you did.
But above all by the way you did it.
Your work as a thought leader and peacemaker is a legacy.”
“I should have listened to him sooner, it would have saved me a lot of trouble.”
Söder about happiness.
It was not “love at first sight” between Alois Glück and Markus Söder, as the Prime Minister confessed.
“I was too bold, too fast, perhaps too courageous.” But looking back, he admitted: “I should have listened to him earlier, that would have saved me a lot of trouble.” Alois Glück was his own powerhouse in the CSU , with his authority he held the faction together after the death of Franz Josef Strauss.
ZdK President Irme Stetter-Karp summarized the deceased's achievements for the highest church lay body with the words: "Fortunately, we were lucky." His voice was an incentive not to let up in our commitment to a sustainable Christian life.
Behind the coffin, which was covered with a white and blue diamond flag, and to the sounds of Mozart's “Lacrimosa”, the cardinal and then the more than 1,000-strong mourning congregation walked out of the main portal into the open air.
Numerous citizens had gathered there in the sun to pay their last respects to Alois Glück.
The coffin was driven away in a white hearse while the mourners moved to the Kaisersaal of the residence for a funeral reception: the mountain guards, of which Glück had been chairman, the mountain riflemen, the representatives of the Red Cross, the members of the Diocesan Council of Catholics and the ZdK There were also representatives of the farmers' association, old companions from the CSU and current ministers, politicians from the SPD and the Greens.
Everyone talking to each other – like a reflection of the active civil society that Alois Glück had always fought for.
Even after his death, he brought people together.