Würtz put his right hand on a Bible.
Behind the opened oath formula was a crucifix on the table. Würtz is to be introduced to the post as archbishop on 4. October in the Eichstätter Dom; he will then be the youngest local bishop in Germany.
Würtz was appointed Bishop of Eichstätt by Pope Leo XIV in July, currently he is still auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Freiburg.
With the oath, a bishop in Bavaria and his priests commit themselves to respect for the constitutional order.
In their speeches, Söder and Würtz committed themselves to a close cooperation between the state and the church. Söder said it was his wish that the Church remain close to the people and was also present in their everyday lives.
But unlike a charity, it should not lose sight of the last questions of life. The most important task is to give hope.
Würtz seems optimistic to him, this is already a good sign in times when some expected the end of the world for the next day.
The future Bishop of Eichstatt objected to the fact that the oath of allegiance was a sign of the subordination of the Church to the State or an inadmissible mixing of both spheres.
"Fidelity to the Gospel and to the Church is not contrary to responsibility to our country and to the people who live here. In view of the Christian character of our country and the Free State, one is almost tempted to say: quite the opposite.
Würtz emphasized: "Given the liberal and democratic system that is given to us in Germany and in Bavaria, I not only find it easy to assure me that everything that is in my limited power to avert damage from this state, but it is almost pushing itself up."
The Church does not simply see itself as a profiteer of state and constitutional freedoms. “It binds itself in all freedom.”
Würtz sees himself in the tradition of Oli Kahn
Given his move from Baden to Bavaria, the 55-year-old drew some connecting lines to other prominent immigrants "who have moved to Bavaria and have suffered very well there."
Würtz named Bayern's first queen Karoline, conductor Joseph Keilberth and goalkeeping legend Oliver Kahn. "Everything native of Karlsruhe like me." Würtz stated that his references to Bavaria were not exuberant, but there were some: "After all, my father's grandmother was born in 1917 in the Kingdom of Bavaria, as is noted on her birth certificate. However, this was in Königsbach near Neustadt an der Weinstraße."
This part of the Palatinate belonged to Bavaria at that time. He also lived in Würzburg for a year during his priestly training.
"I have also been to many areas of Bavaria for very different reasons: for a holiday in the Chiemgau and in Ottobeuren, for the pilgrimage in Altötting, for an acquaintance and museum visit in Munich, to retreats at Schloss Hirschberg, to the cultural trip in Bamberg and Nuremberg." His image of Bavaria therefore feeds not only from the common clichés, but also from his own experience.
"And I can therefore, at the beginning of my time in Bavaria, not only say: It could have been worse, but: I have caught it well or more correctly: the Holy Father meant well with me." Söder assured him: "You're not a native of Bayer, but that's not bad."
The Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the chairman of the Freising Bishops’ Conference, predicted that he had no worries that – as with him as a native of Westphalia – inculturation in the Free State will succeed. The Bavarian anthem at the end of the ceremony did not yet sing Würtz.