Discourse of Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of the conferment of honorary citizenship
of Freising
(January 16, 2010) Pope Benedict XVI was conferred the honorary citizenship of Freising on Saturday, 16th of January. Freising is a town in Bavaria, Germany, is one of the oldest settlements in Bavaria, gaining importance by becoming a major religious centre in the early Middle Ages. Pope Benedict XVI, then Joseph Ratzinger was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising, on 24 March 1977, an office he held till early 1982. While expressing his gratitude to the honour conferred on him, the Pope referred the Cathedral Hill in the city known for its topography, as it stands prominent and striking. He said that it is a place of prayer, knowledge and culture, dominated by those white and highly visible twin towers, with their pitched roofs, which are broadly on the ground and rise up into the sky at the same time and thus form the focus for the whole environment. It shows us, said the Pontiff that the Church in our society, in our history, how our culture has its place, that it is so essential to our lives. It also makes us look upward, to God, to whom we owe our humanity and our human community, he added. Secondly, said the Holy Father that in Freising, every priest has built up in the place where he received the priesthood, a very special bond of personal relationship. The Pontiff himself had experienced such deep feeling there as friend of Christ and the community and through this act bring God closer to people. The Cathedral that stands on the grave of St Korbinian brings a personal touch of the place and of the people he said.
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