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Benedict XVI's Coat of Arms

Explanation of the coat of arms
by Winfried Röhmel


The "Freising Moor" is a Roman now
Benedict XVI also includes Corbinian's Bear in his coat of arms
The scallop shell refers to the Schottenkloster in Regensburg
Rom/Freising/Regensburg, April 25, 2005 (ok) Pope Benedict XVI. has included his old Bavarian homeland in the papal coat of arms. All of the elements in the episcopal coat of arms that he already bore as Archbishop of Munich and Freising and then as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have become part of his papal coat of arms as well. The coat of arms appeared for the first time in an official commemorative picture that was published by the Vatican on the occasion of the installation of the new Pope. The heraldic insignia are presented there in an outline sketch, however, and not in full color.

The papal coat of arms, divided into three parts, displays the "Moor of Freising.“ The Moor's head facing left and typically crowned, appeared on the coat of arms of the old principality of Freising as early as 1316 during the reign of the Bishop of Freising, Prince Konrad III and it remained almost unchanged until the "secularization" of the Church's estates in 1802/1803. Ever since then, the archbishops of Munich and Freising have included the "Caput Aethiopum", the head of the Ethiopian, in their coat of arms. It is also displayed in the coat of arms of Cardinal Friedrich Wetter and has been included in the new logo of the Archdiocese of Munich.

A particularly characteristic element of the new papal coat of arms is a bear with a pack saddle, known as "Corbinian's Bear." According to legend, Bishop Corbinian who preached the Christian faith in the Duchy of Bavaria in the 8th century and is venerated as the spiritual father and patron of the archdiocese was traveling to Rome when a bear mauled his pack animal. The saint then ordered the bear to carry his packs to Rome. However, when he arrived in Rome, he released the bear from his service and the bear trundled back to its native forest. The meaning of the legend is clear. Christianity tamed and domesticated the ferocity of paganism and thus laid the foundations for a great civilization in the Duchy of Bavaria. At the same time, Corbinian's bear, as God's beast of burden, symbolizes the burden of office. Now, in Benedict XVI's coat of arms, Corbinian's bear will be at home in Rome.

The symbolism of the third element, the scallop shell, is multiple. It refers first to a famous legend about the saintly bishop and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine (354 to 430 A.D.). While walking along the seashore, meditating on the unfathomable mystery of the Holy Trinity, he met a boy who was using a shell to pour seawater into a little hole. When Augustine asked him what he was doing, he replied, "I am emptying the sea into this hole.“ Thus the scallop shell became the symbol for penetrating the unfathomable depths of the mystery of God. But it also stands in connection with the theologian Joseph Ratzinger and the beginning of his academic career. In 1953 he obtained his doctorate in theology under the direction of Professor Gottlieb Söhngen at the University of Munich with his dissertation entitled "The People and House of God in Augustine's Doctrine of the Church."

As a "pilgrim shell“ the symbol also alludes to a central concept of the Second Vatican Council, the "pilgrim people of God," which the theologian shepherded locally as Archbishop Ratzinger and of which he is now, as Benedict XVI, the universal shepherd. When he became an archbishop, he deliberately incorporated this symbol in his coat of arms. It was found in the heraldic insignia of the Schottenkloster in Regensburg, an ancient monastery where the seminary of the diocese is located today. Thus it also recalls a place where the Pope once lived and worked as a professor of theology. From 1969 until his appointment as Archbishop of Munich and Freising in 1977 he taught dogmatic theology and the history of the doctrine at the University of Regensburg.

© Press office of the Archdiocese of Munich