Pope Benedict XVI returns from 4-day Apostolic visit to Germany

Pope Benedict XVI returned from a 4-day official visit of state to his native Germany on Sunday evening, landing at Rome’s Ciampino airport and heading from there to Castel Gandolfo.

Veronica Scarisbrick was with the Holy Father from his arrival to his departure, and followed events for us.

"The evening was tinged with sadness . It was a farewell ceremony but no doubt it was an ‘auf wiedersehn’, until we meet again .

And Benedict XVI thanked Germany and its people for the splendid days, for the attention and affection he received. At 84 , he had stood up well to his much wished for official State Visit back home . A gruelling four days, complex, charged with events and speeches as well as being logistically complicated.

When he first arrived, he looked moved and began by spelling out why he had come to his homeland : “I have come, he said, primarily to meet people and speak about God “.

And meet people and speak about God he did, plentifully so, during this visit which had as theme: “Where God is, there is the future”.
In Berlin, the Federal capital, in a key note address at the Bundestag he met with Germany’s members of Parliament choosing to speak of God and highlighting how this belief represented the foundation of western progress in law and social justice throughout the centuries .

And although his visit had begun at a disadvantage point, as the media reported widely aggressiveness soon turned into admiration . His speech at the Reichstag was dubbed by the “Frankfurter Algmaine Zeitung”,the speech of the century and even the immensely popular “Bild” described it as a great speech. Rather curiously “The Spiegel on line” soon began speaking of “Benedict’s blunt new world”, remarking how the Pope had not shied away from controversy and how his bluntness had surprised many and could transform the visit into a rousing success”.

Well I don’t know if I would call it bluntness , but certainly the Germans appreciated his clarity of thought and his courage in speaking out without mincing his words .

Even in the Land of Luther, in Erfurt South of Berlin when the Pope met with Protestant representatives in a moving historical meeting during which he walked the very places where Martin Luther was ordained, lived and worked. At a time in history when preparations are underway to mark five centuries since the break from Rome in 2017. Even on this occasion, with the separated brethren he knows best, while he may have disappointed some , he did not give into expectations but held his ground shattering hopes that he would come bearing ecumenical gifts. No, he said on this occasion there must be no “misreading of faith and ecumenism”.

And in his farewell speech Benedict XVI remarked how he was profoundly grateful for what he described as fraternal exchange and common prayer. But Protestants weren’t the only Christians he met, there was a meeting with Orthodox and Oriental Christians as well. Significant too, for the Pope who is a promoter of dialogue with Christians and non Christians alike were, in his words, the meetings with representatives of the Jewish and Muslim communities .

And what of more dedicated Catholic moments ? Well there were three masses: one in each of the three cities he visited in Berlin, Erfurt, and in the more Catholic Freiburg where on Saturday he pondered as to whether it were not time for change in the Church . “It is time once again, he warned, for the Church resolutely to set aside her worldliness. That does not mean withdrawing from the world. A Church relieved of the burden of worldliness is in a position, not least through her charitable activities, to mediate the life-giving strength of the Christian faith to those in need, to sufferers and to their carers.

There was even time, while in Erfurt which until reunification in 1990 was in Eastern Germany, to travel to a Marian shrine in a remote rural area , the Eichsfeld , where Catholics kept the faith alive in time of hardship .In a special way he praised their patient trust in God’s guidance in resisting first the Nazi and then the communist ideology thus sowing the seed for the future .

Reflecting I thought not just the motto of this journey but also the logo: an image in the national colours of Germany, showing stylised figures on a path leading upwards , towards the future ,towards the Cross.

And right before leaving the Holy Father encouraged the Church in Germany to pursue with resolute confidence the path of faith which leads people back to their roots, to the heart of the Good News of Christ: “It will be small communities of believers, and these already exist, whose enthusiasm spreads within a pluralistic society and makes others curious to seek the light which gives life in abundance. There is nothing more beautiful, he went on to say, than to know Christ and to speak to others of our friendship with him .This experience ultimately gives the certainty that “Where God is, there is a future.” Wherever God is present, there is hope: new and often unexpected horizons open up beyond the present and the ephemeral. In this sense I accompany in my thoughts and prayers the path of the Church in Germany

And it was almost dusk when Benedict XVI , who had come here primarily to meet people and speak about God “, bade farewell. “Vergelt’s Gott” , he said , May God reward you.

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