Representatives of the German Catholic community have made a special
gift to Pope Benedict XVI – a tiara handmade by the Bulgarian masters,
Russian media reported.
The precious crown similar to the ones that
spiritual leaders of the Catholic church used to wear before 1963 is
made of silver and Zink and inlayed with semiprecious stones.
The idea
to give this valuable present to the Pontific landed on German
businessman Dieter Philippi.
“We decided to present the jewel to the
Benedict XVI because so far every pope had his own tiara. John Paul II
received the same gift from the Hungarian Catholics, now it was our
turn,” Philippi commented.
The tiara fro Benedict XVI was commissioned
to a Sofia workshop that manufactures holy vessels and attires.
It was
presented to the Pontific during May 25 audience with a small delegation
of German Catholics and Orthodox Bulgarians as a symbol of Christian
unity.