BILD headline on Benedict's departure from Germany today:
'Farewell from brother and homeland:
Pope Benedict, 93, left [Munich] at 11:56 today'
The plane with Pope Benedict takes off from Munich airport.
Benedict XVI back at Vatican
after visit to ailing brother
VATICAN CITY, June 22, 2020 (AP) - Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI returned to the Vatican on Monday after a four-day visit to his ailing elder brother in their
native Germany in what was his first trip out of Italy since he resigned as pope.
Benedict, a Bavarian native, flew from Munich to Rome aboard an Italian air force plane. He was seen off by Bavaria's governor, Markus Soeder, who said it
was a moment “of happiness and melancholy,” news agency dpa reported.
Benedict returned to his home in the Vatican gardens in the early afternoon, said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni. It was his first trip outside Italy in over
seven years. The 93-year-old retired pontiff arrived in Germany on Thursday to be with his 96-year-old brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger. The two brothers
have long been close and were ordained priests on the same day, June 29, 1951.
On Saturday, Benedict greeted old neighbors and prayed at his parents' grave. He stayed at a seminary during his trip, visiting his brother twice a day.
He spent about 45 minutes at his old home in Pentling, a suburb of Regensburg, where Rupert and Therese Hofbauer, neighbors who 'looked after' the Ratzinger house for decades during his years in Rome, could not hide
their great joy at the retired Pope's unexpected return to Germany. The house is now a museum-adjunct library for the Regensburg-based Benedict XVI Foundation.
Earlier, he paid a visit to the family grave in a village cemetery not far from Pentling, which he last visited in 2006, thinking at the time it was the last chance he would have to do so.
egensburg Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer said Germans saw Benedict in all his frailty during the brief visit, saying it was clear the retired pope was himself
“near his end.” “He speaks in a low, almost whispering voice, and he visibly has trouble articulating. But his thoughts are fully clear; his memory and his powers
of deduction are phenomenal.”
Voderholzer noted that for nearly every aspect of his life, Benedict must rely on the help of others, but he praised Benedict for allowing his frailty to be seen.
"It takes a lot of courage, but also humility to put yourself in the hands of other people, and also to show up in public. It was clear to him that he could not be hidden entirely,” he said after Benedict had left.
Benedict has lived at a monastery on the Vatican grounds since shortly after his 2013 retirement, a decision that stunned the world. Elected to the papacy in 2005 to succeed St. John Paul II, the former Joseph Ratzinger was the first pontiff in 600 years to resign the post.
Benedict XVI returns to Rome after
visiting ill brother in Germany
June 22, 2020 at 12:29 pm
Benedict XVI returns to Rome after visiting ill brother in Germany
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI arrived back in Rome on Monday after a four-day trip to Germany to visit his ailing brother.
The Diocese of Regensburg reported June 22 that 93-year-old Benedict XVI said goodbye to his 96-year-old brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, who is in poor health, before departing for Munich airport.
“It is perhaps the last time that the two brothers, Georg and Joseph Ratzinger, will see each other in this world,” the Regensburg diocese said in an earlier statement.
Benedict XVI was accompanied on the journey to the airport by Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg. Before the pope emeritus boarded an Italian air force plane he was greeted by Bavaria’s Premier Markus Söder. The
Süddeutsche Zeitung, a German daily newspaper, quoted Söder as saying that the encounter was a moment of “joy and melancholy.”
Benedict XVI was born Joseph Aloysius Ratzinger in the town of Marktl in Bavaria in 1927. His older brother Georg is his last living family member.
On his final full day in Bavaria, Benedict XVI offered Sunday Mass with his brother in Luzengasse, Regensburg. He later went to pray at the shrine of St. Wolfgang, the patron saint of Regensburg diocese.
Archbishop Nikola Eterović, the apostolic nuncio in Germany, travelled from Berlin to meet with the pope emeritus in Regensburg over the weekend.
“It is an honour to welcome the pope emeritus again in Germany, even in this difficult family situation,” Eterović said June 21 following their meeting.
The nuncio said his impression during his meeting with Benedict was “that he feels good here in Regensburg.”
The former pope arrived in Bavaria on Thursday, June 16. Immediately upon his arrival, Benedict went to see his brother, the diocese reported. The brothers celebrated Mass together at the house in Regensburg and the pope emeritus then went to the diocesan seminary, where he stayed throughout the visit. In the evening, he returned to see his brother again.
On Friday, the two celebrated Mass for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, according to a statement.
On Saturday the former pope visited the residence in Pentling, just outside Regensburg, where he lived while serving as a professor from 1970 to 1977.
His last time seeing the home was during his 2006 pastoral trip to Bavaria.
The diocese said Benedict XVI then stopped at the Ziegetsdorf cemetery to spend time in prayer at the graves of his parents and sister.
Christian Schaller, deputy head of the Pope Benedict XVI Institute, told Regensburg diocese that during the pope emeritus’s visit to his former home “memories awoke.”
“It was a trip back in time,” he said.
Benedict stayed at his Pentling home and in its garden for about 45 minutes, and was reportedly moved by old family portraits.
During his visit to the cemetery an Our Father and Hail Mary were prayed.
“I have the impression that the visit is a source of strength for both brothers,” Schaller said.
According to Regensburg diocese, “Benedict XVI is traveling in the company of his secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, his doctor, his nurse and a religious sister. The Pope emeritus made the decision to travel to his brother in Regensburg at short notice, after consulting with Pope Francis.”
Msgr. Georg Ratzinger is a former choir master of the Regensburger Domspatzen, the cathedral choir of Regensburg.
On June 29, 2011, he celebrated his 60th anniversary as a priest in Rome together with his brother. Both men were ordained priests in 1951.
Mons. Rudolf Voderholzer, Bishop of Regensburg, summmarized Benedict XVI's trip for the media at a news conference after the Emeritus had left for Rome yesterday.
Summing up Benedict's
blitz trip to Regensburg
by Mons. Rudolf Voderholzer
Translated from
Website of the Diocese of Regensurg
June 22, 2020
Most esteemed ladies and gentlemen!
The last day of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI’s short visit began in a surprising way, again, but not really. Benedict decided before leaving to pass by Luzengasse [the street where brother Georg’s apartment is located] once more and to be with his brother for the last time, perhaps forever. And so the circle closes. Their first and last reunion this time was at the sickbed of his older brother debilitated by age and illness.
At the airport in Munich, Bavarian Minister President Soeder and State Minister Florian Hermann were waiting to see him off, as they were when he arrived last Thursday. Many media represetnatives were also there.
President Soeder spoke of what a great honor and joy it was for Bavaria to welcome the Emeritus for this brief visit. Benedict XVI thanked him for his welcome and generous words, best expressed, he said, by the very presence of the president himself.
I then wished the Emeritus God’s blessings and a good flight back to Rome, and promised him that we would all look after his brother.
This farewell ended an unforeseen and highly emotionally visit that was planned on the go, which was challenging for everyone involved but one which ultimately went very well.
I must tell you that I was naturally greatly relieved that the reunion, which was the deepest wish of both brothers, was very constructive for both of them, and obviously, strengthening.
Benedict VXI, who has been Emeritus Pope since 2013, was in Regensburg for 5 days – a man who came to visit his seriously ill older brother, concerned that he might no longer see him alive in this world.
He visited his homeland, the grave of his parents[and older sister], his [former] house for which he always felt nostalgia and where he had wanted to spend his life after retirement, as well as the Pope Benedict Institute here, which is dedicated to the comprehensive documentation of his theological work and which has been publishing his Collected Works, and we prayed together at the shrine of St. Wolfgang in Regensburg Cathedral.
It so happened that his spontaneous visit coincided with the beginning of our annual Wolfgang Week, a festive diocesan week in preparation for annual ordinations [traditionally held by most dioceses on June 29, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul]. It was intended to be a purely private visit without official or diplomatic protocol, which was, of course, difficult to do with a public figure like he is.
That is why the Apostolic Nuncio [Croatian Mons. Nikola Eterovic, who was the Secretary General of the Bishops’ Synod under Benedict XVI and moved out by Pope Francis to make way for his protégé, Cardinal Baldisseri], the pope’s representative in Germany, came to Regensburg. His visit, which was not from the outside but from the inside, so to speak, was a sign of benevolence and goodwill from Pope Francis.
In my homily yesterday [Sunday], I called Benedict XVI the theologian of the century and the greatest homilist on the Chair of Peter since Leo and Gregory, both called ‘the Great’. Countless people have been gripped by his words and still find encouragement and find their faith reinforced in his works.
The writings of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI have given rise to international bestsellers selling in the millions. I shall merely cite here his Introduction to Christianity which was first published in 1968 and his trilogy on Jesus of Nazareth. Through his words, he has inspired millions of young people, hundreds of thousands, for example, just by his participation in the 2005 World Youth Day in Cologne.
He has directly addressed the doubts of those who are looking for a meaning to existence, as well as the challenge of strengthening faith with reason. He significantly influenced some of the central texts of Vatican II which intended to show the way to the Church today and tomorrow.
In hindsight, his theological work has been, in many ways, prophetic, and in their profundity, an epochal testimony to human greatness, dignity and faith.
As Pope, he led 1.3 billion Catholics of every race and nation in the world. But he always was a bridgebuilder, ‘Pontifex’ [to use the Latin word], who, with his quiet, indeed, humble ways, has won countless persons to seek an encounter with Christ.
In the past five days, we experienced this man in his fragility, his age-related debility, and his finiteness. He now speaks in a faint voice, almost a whisper, and he clearly has difficulty articulating. But his thinking remains clear, his memory and powers of analysis continue to be phenomenal.
For practically everything he has to do in his day-to-day life, he must now depend on the help of others. It takes a lot of courage, and with it, much humility, to put himself so completely in the hands of others, while at the same time, having to show himself in public as he did these days. It was clear to him that he could not stay fully hidden from sight, and all we could do was to call on the public to respect his privacy.
He had to mobilize whatever strength he has left in order to come to bid farewell to his brother. Benedict XVI showed himself to all of us in all the debility of his advanced age, enabling us to understand what is really important at the end, beyond human greatness and creative powers.
First, there is the love that a person experiences from his parents. They raise him, encourage him to follow a path in life, giving him the strength to follow this path. And this love continues to live in him even when his own end is in sight.
I said at my homily yesterday, speaking about marriage anniversaries and in view of the priestly ordinations in Saturday, that parental love is the first sacrament in the life of any person, even and especially of a priest, even one who becomes pope. Parental love is an image of God’s love which they receive from him and which they then pass on to their children.
It was in gratitude for this fundamental experience that Benedict XVI on Saturday visited the grave of his parents in Ziegetsdorf a village near Pentling]. It must be remembered that the Ratzinger siblings decided in 1974 to have the remains of their parents transferred from Traunstein, where they were first buried – their father died in 1959, their mother in 1963 – to Regensburg so that the family could all be 'together again'. In 1991, their sister Maria [who died of a sudden heart attack] was also buried here.
All of this shows how much Regensburg represents his earthly home, which is constituted primarily through relationships. This love for ‘home’ does not conflict in any way with the hope of seeing his loved ones again in the eternity of God. It is the same love that impelled Benedict to make this trip to be at his older brother’s sickbed. One can only wish for everyone the same affection and fraternal reciprocity in the relationship between the Ratzinger brothers, nurtured by loyalty, trust, and selflessness, proceeding from a solid foundation – in their case, the living faith in Christ, Son of God.
During this visit, they saw each other nine times. Each meeting clearly gave both a visible strength, fresh courage and joy. Nine times they met, with few words said, but with familiar gestures and above all, in prayer. Each day, Mass was said, restricted to very few persons. On Friday, Feast of the Sacred Heart, I was asked to lead the celebration. And you could tell - the Eucharist is the source from which the two brothers live.
Benedict's trip was perhaps also a farewell to his Bavarian homeland. Home is the horizon of one’s first memories and to which a man’s fundamental relationships are linked. You could feel how much Benedict blossomed when he saw the familiar landscape, the familiar alleys and paths, and above all, the people through the windows of his transport car. I think he would have wanted to ride a bicycle from Pentling to the old town of Regensburg, and he would have liked to sit down with the young people on Bismarckplatz to listen, to laugh and to chat a little.
Benedict’s trip was also spiritual. I personally felt that a circle closed when we prayed together on Sunday at the shrine of St. Wolfgang in Regensburg Cathedral. We prayed a litany of intercession to the saint, the Our Father and Hail Mary, before singing the Te Deum and Salve Regina. I asked Benedict for his blessing for the faithful and the Church in Regensburg, which he gladly gave. Our prayers together sprung out of hope and faith of being safe in God, who keeps the doors of heaven open to us, who has a place ready for each of us in the eternal homeland where our lives will gain meaning and fullness. A God who looks down on us with grace and mercy.
Some saw the visit as a historic event. Others who attach little importance to Christ and his Church probably just shrugged it off. For myself, it was above all a very human undertaking. A man, to whom we can ascribe so many great things, came to us as a fragile, indeed helpless, man, whose remaining strength barely suffices to cope with the essentials of day-to-day living. I was very moved by the experience and have needed to distance myself to appreciate an experience that hit me suddenly and for which I was unprepared.
My first reaction when Archbishop Gaenswein first informed me of the trip was that we would do everything in our power to make the Pope’s visit possible, and it has been for me and all my co-workers an honor to render service to the Emeritus Pope.
I thank everyone in the bishops’ conference, in the Cathedral's chapter of canons, and in the diocesan seminary under Mons. Martin Priller who quickly organized to provide lodgings for Benedict XVI, the people who accompanied him from Rome, and the officers assigned for his security. And I thank the director of Regensburg Caritas, Deacon Weissman, who is a trained nurse as well as a theologian, for his organization’s excellent work in the background.
I am most thankful for the voluntary service of the Malteser who were responsible for providing appropriate land transport for the pope, and the quick-adapting, friendly and professional work of the police and others persons responsible for security. I express these thanks also in behalf of Benedict XVI and of Mons. Gaenswein.
Last but not least, I would like to express my thanks to you, the journalists, who have reported on the visit with much prudence and did all you could so that this essentially private trip could remain a private one, and yet the moving event that it became for many people in Regensburg, for the whole region, and, as I am told from various sources, for Christians around the world.
Thank you so much!
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/06/2020 22:56]