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"Welcome, Holy Father!"
„My heart is Bavarian, but in my office I belong to the world." This statement made by the Holy Father reflects a motive of his papal visit which will bring him to us in Bavaria from September 9 – 14. The visit will touch on important milestones in his life and his development as priest, teacher of theology and Archbishop of Munich and Freising. (...) I take this opportunity to invite you now to the Masses in Munich, Altötting and Regensburg which the Holy Father will celebrate with us. He will arrive In Munich at 9:30 on Sunday morning, September 10, to celebrate Mass at the open-air grounds at the Munich Trade Fair Center. The area on which huge machines and construction cranes stand when international fairs are held will become the scene of a great congregation under the open sky where we will celebrate the Holy Eucharist in visible community with St. Peter's successor, profess our faith, and proclaim the death and resurrection of Christ. The two archbishops will inform you in more detail about the other feasts of faith, the large Masses in Altötting and Regensburg. In all probability the first event of the visit will be a prayer by the Holy Father At the Column of the Virgin Mary (Mariensäule) at Marienplatz in Munich. The column, erected in 1638 by Bavaria's great Elector Maximilian I, is not only the oldest monument to peace in the Bavarian capital - in olden days it was from here that distances in Bavaria were measured, an outward sign that the Christian faith was and is the heart of Bavaria. This is where Cardinal Ratzinger called on Patrona Bavariae, the protecting spirit of Bavaria, when he resigned from office as Archbishop of Munich and Freising and became Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The ties between Rome and Bavaria have never been broken. On the contrary, they have remained close because they have deep roots in the hearts of the faithful. Benedict XVI's visit will close with a prayer in the Cathedral in Freising, at the reliquary shrine of St. Corbinian, who proclaimed the Christian faith in Bavaria in the 8th century. In 1951 Joseph Ratzinger and his brother Georg and 40 other deacons were ordained priests on the Feast of Peter and Paul by Cardinal Michael Faulhaber in the Cathedral in Freising, the concathedral of the archdiocese. His brilliant career as a theological teacher and internationally renowned professor of theology began at the University of Philosophy and Theology in Freising. He incorporated the Freising Moor from the coat of arms of the old principality of Freising and St. Corbinian's legendary bear in his episcopal coat of arms and has retained them in his papal coat of arms as well – a beautiful, visible expression of his strong ties to his home archdioceses. (...) In our meeting with him, we will show the Holy Father in masses and prayers that we are prepared to support him in the high office he holds with so many attendant responsibilities. When he assumed office, he explicitly requested our support. Thus together with him, we will take up the great challenges confronting our faith today. I hope and expect that the Holy Father's visit will reinforce believers' faith in Jesus Christ, strengthen the confidence and the work of priests, the clerics and the laity, that those working as volunteers in councils and associations will be heartened and that the requisite cooperation among the archdioceses in our country for a reevangelization will receive fresh impetus." Friedrich Cardinal Wetter Archbishop of Munich and Freising (from the statement by Cardinal Wetter on March 22, 2006 in Freising at the press conference to present the poster for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI in Bavaria) |
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