Saturday, September 10, 2011

Pope’s Visit to Germany in September Promises Surprises

Pope Benedict XVI will begin his first state visit to Germany in three weeks. 

This apostolic voyage promises to be historic, challenging and potentially very fruitful. 

The September 22-25 visit will include a trip to the German capital, Berlin, followed by the towns of Erfurt and Freiburg in Breisgau. 

The Pope is to celebrate an open air Mass in Berlin's Olympic Stadium, two more such Masses in Erfut and Freiburg, and hold meetings with senior Church figures, seminarians, youth, and the country's ecumenical and interreligious leaders. 

His visit will begin with a momentous address to the Federal Parliament in the Reichstag.
 
But although relatively short, the trip will be challenging: Secularism has long taken hold in the Holy Father's homeland with a minority of priests as well as laity openly expressing dissent from Church teaching. 

The Church's woes have been compounded by the sexual abuse crisis that continues to simmer across Germany. The effects of all of these have been dramatic. 

According to the latest official Church figures, the number of German Catholics de-registering themselves from their local Catholic church increased by almost 50% last year from1,24,000 people, up from 1,81,000. 

Jesuit Father Bernd Hagenkord, director of Vatican Radio's German section, said that the perception of Joseph Ratzinger and the Church by the Germans has remarkably changed over 30 years. 

Pope Benedict XVI is perceived today as milder and more spiritual than he was before particularly during his latter years as cardinal prefect at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.