---

Scritto da: benefan 08/09/2006 23.19

Pontifical flags flying in Ratisbona in anticipation of papal visit

Ratisbona, Sep. 08, 2006 (CNA) - The black, red and gold flags colors that were proudly displayed in homes and on cars throughout Germany during the World Cup have been replaced in the city of Ratisbona now by white and yellow, the colors of the papal flag, in anticipation of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Bavaria.

The president of the Marian Congregations for men, Father Heinrich Wachter, had the idea of distributing the papal flags. He noted that many Germans “wanted to take part in the joy and enthusiasm experienced during the last World Youth Day in Cologne and during the recent World Cup.”

“Seeing the little flags with the papal coat-of-arms on so many cars is an opportunity for drivers to enthusiastically greet one another as they travel about the city,” he added.

A long-time neighbor of the Pope’s brother and friend of the Holy Father for decades, Father Wachter emphasized, “For us Catholics, it is an immense joy to have a German pope. The flags are a visible sign of our faith and our solidarity. My dream is that in few days everyone in Ratisbona will be draped in the papal flag.” He said that in recent days he has received more than 700 requests for the papal colors.

---

NOTE FOR ENGLISH READERS:
I am surprised that the CNA article above uses the Italian and Spanish place name for Regensburg (in French, Ratisbonne), both in the dateline as well as in the body of the story!

For those who may not have been aware of it earlier, henceforth if you see RATISBONA OR RATISBONNE, it refers to REGENSBURG!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/09/2006 0.00]

In its Italian service today, ZENIT has this brief interview with the current Archbishop of Munich-Freising about his predecessor's visit to Bavaria which starts tomorrow. Here is a translation.

Cardinal Friedrich Wetter:
The Pope's visit will be
'a new flame of joy in the faith'


MUNICH, 8 September 2006 (ZENIT.org).- Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in Bavaria, his birthland, as "head of the universal Church," who will light in everyone a "new flame of joy in the faith," Cardinal Friedrich Wetter said at a press confer4ence yesterday.

ZENIT asked the Archbishop of Munich and Freising what were his expectations of the Pope's fourth trip abroad.

In your view, what is the significance of the Pope's trip here to Bavaria, which many seem to consider as the event of the century?
Pope Benedict comes to us in Bavaria as the Universal Pastor of the Church, and everything that he says will have significance for many many people in every corner of the world.

His words will be followed by millions, not the least because of all the attention that the media is giving to the visit and, as we have seen, to the Pope himself as a person.

Eminence, you just spoke [in the press conference] about the Pope's positive attitude and his profesison of faith in a God of love. What are the results you expect from this visit for your Archdiocese?
The visit comes at a time in which we are seeing ampnmg the youth a growing interest in matters of faith. As I stressed at the press conference, the number of those who are leaving the Church has been dropping appreciably, and many more are showing the desire to be welcomed into the Church.

And this is taking place while our society is showing a growing detachment from God. Clearly, we expect that the Holy Father's visit to his native land will light a new flame of joy in the faith. Certainly, it will encourage the faithful to be, as Christians, a sign of hope in the future. Our wish is that more anr more Christians will bear witness to Christ in a more decisive and vital manner.

Several Polish bishops are listed among the guests during this Apostolic Voyage. Is this by chance?
Obviously, this trip was not meant to be used diectly as a means for improving relationships between Germans and Poles. It is a pastoral voyage to the Pope's native land to encourage and promote the faith in Bavaria. However, the participation of at least three of our Polish brothers in the episcopate just shows that our relations are very good and friendly.

Besides, this occasion will surely bring vivid memories of John Paul II. As you know, Cardinal Stanislaw Dsiwisz, Archbishop of Cracow, will be among those concelebrating the Sunday Mass here in Munich with the Pope. This illustrates the excellent relations we enjoy between us.

The Pope as Pop Star in Bavaria

Germany | 08.09.2006
Deutsche Welle

Germany's own son, Pope Benedict XVI, is to visit his native country on Saturday. His agenda includes a trip down memory lane. A slew of security measures are necessary to keep the pope pandemonium to a minimum.

He's a happenin' kind of guy, if you can say that about a pope, so security will be tight when Benedict XVI travels to his Bavarian homeland. During a recent interview with Deutsche Welle and other media, the 79-year-old said he wanted to see the places and the people who shaped him.

The six-day visit will include stops in Munich, Regensburg, the pilgrimage site of Altötting and Freising. He's not expected to talk politics, not even church politics. Instead, spiritual matters are the issues at hand. Small and large religious services -- called vespers -- are planned. Pope Benedict XVI, a.k.a. Joseph Ratzinger, also plans to visit his birthplace, Marktl am Inn.

"Benedetto" won hearts fast

A-jammin' pilgrims at World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne
Many first doubted whether Benedict XVI could follow in the footsteps of his charismatic predecessor, John Paul II. But during his first visit to Germany after becoming pope in April 2005, Benedict won over millions with his own kind of charm.

He attended the huge World Youth Day -- a global meeting for Catholic youth -- in Cologne in August 2005, where young people endearingly chanted "Benedetto." He had won their hearts.

The pope is so popular now, that for this second visit to Germany, he will move behind over 14 kilometers (nearly nine miles) of blockades when hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend religious services. Security will be at a maximum, with 5,000 police officers to guard the pontiff.

Benedict is so big, some 4,000 journalists will be capturing his words and gestures on tape and laptop.

Pope paraphernalia as all-weather gear

Like any good marketing paraphernalia for a pop star, the party will also include everything from coffee mugs, t-shirts and baseball caps bearing his portrait to stickers and Vatican flags.

"Oh, these Bavarian pastries are divine!"
Jürgen Wittmann, whose company called Six Stigma is the official manufacturer of the products surrounding the pope's visit, said they have sold 5,000 of the flags already.

Bottles of holy water and umbrellas with Benedict designs can help out believers stuck in bad weather. All of the 29 articles on sale at stands and online have been discussed together with the Regensburg diocese leaders.

In Marktl am Inn, Benedict's hometown, pope spectators can sink their teeth into "pope cakes," pastries and "Vatican bread." They can even wind down in the evening with a "pope beer." And if they drink too much, they can wipe out the memory the next day with Benedict erasers -- "Ratzefummel."

"The first production series of erasers went like hotcakes," said Rainer Tautenhahn, who produced the initial 1,000 erasers that were sold-out within days. He has restocked his inventory since then.

Souvenir proceeds are supposed to help cover the costs of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Bavaria.

In a few hours, an Alitalia special flight will be leaving Rome for Munich with Pope Benedict XVI, his entourage and Papal staff, as well as selected journalists representing international media organizations. This piece from korazym.org, translated here, tells us who will be on board.


The passengers will include 29 persons from the Vatican who are travelling with the Pope in various capacities, and 65 journalists.

Even in the Curia, it is considered a great honor to be in the Papal entourage, but in turn it calls for very intensive and demanding service, in difficult - sometimes prohibitive -conditions.

The 29 members of the Papal entourage are the Pope's closest co-workers, associates and advisers, as well as the lay personnel who render the services needed by the Pope to carry out his obligations as Head of the Church and head of state.

The latter include his personal secretaries, liturgical aides, medical personnel, his valet, as well as security officials. It is a very samll staff compared to the hundreds who travel with the President of the United States, say, or the Queen of England, during state trips.

Two cardinals, four bishops, 5 priests and 16 lay officials are in Benedict's entourage. The Secretary of State is, of course, always present on papal trips as the Pope's top collaborator, and certainly, the best-known figure in the group at this time is Cardinal Angelo Sodano (now that Joaquin Navarro-Valls has retired as Papal spokesman).

This will be Sodano's last trip as Secretary of State, as he will be turning over the office to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone on September 15, the day after the Bavarian trip ends.

The other cardinal is the Pope's longtime friend, sometime adversary and fellow German, Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity (in effect, the Holy See's minister for ecumenism).

Three other German members of the Curia will be with him (it is customary that Curia officials who come from the country being visited accompany the Pope): Mons. Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum ("minister of charity"); Mons. Josef Clemens, secretary of the Congregation for the Laity, who had been Cardinal Ratzinger's personal secretary for 17 years before he was promoted; and Mons. Christoph Kühn, an official in the Secretariat of State, a native of Eichstatt, and an expert in the church situation in Germany and other socio-political issues affecting German-speaking Catholics. It is he who ties together all the many different threads that have to do with this trip.

For 5 years, although he has mostly remained behind the scenes, Mons. Kuehn has been the major resource person for all Church and state officials from Germany who have come to visit Rome.

However, his face may be familiar to those who follow the Wednesday audiences of the Pope because it is usually he who presents visiting German-speaking groups and reads out messages in German.

Other bishops are the #2 man in the Secretariat of State, the Argentine Mons. Leandro Sandri ('minister of the interior') and the master of liturigical ceremonies, Mons. Piero Marini, with his assistant, Mons. Giulio Vivani.

Mons. Marini and his assistant, accompanied by a technician of Vatican Radio and a security gendarme always arrive at the site of any Papal liturgical event ahead of time to check out that the proper Papal garments are there and that local planners have not forgotten any detail.

If the event will be a Mass, Marini's assistant does a runthrough of the liturgical sequence, the radio technician checks out the microphones and audio system, and the gendarme takes charge of security for the papal 'sacristy' [where the Pope puts on - and later takes off - liturgical vestments ].

Another face we will be seeing often during the trip is obviously that of Mons. Georg Gaenswein (don Giorgio), the Pope's personal secretary, aided by the second secretary, Polish-Ukrainian Mons. Mieczyslaw Mokrycki (whom everyone calls Mietek), who played the same role in the later years of John Paul II.

The two secretaries assist the Pope in everything that is non-liturgical. They have his speeches ready, they keep track of schedules and the time, and they field all questions that need to be directed to the Pope.

The Pope's valet, Paolo Gabriele, must always be within immediate access to the Pope. He succeeded Angelo Gugel, who retired several months ago after 30 years as the Papal valet.
Gabriele also carries the Papal give-aways (rosaries and medals), as well as umbrella and coat (and hat!) for the Pope, depending on the weather forecast.

The Pope is accompanied by the Pope's personal doctor, Renato Buzzonetti (who had the same duty under John Paul II) and by another doctor, Patrizio Polisca from the Health and Hygiene Department of Vatican City State. They carry much less equipment and concerns this time than they did under John Paul II in his last years.

The Holy See communications media are represented by Fr. Federico Lombardi, who has been part of Papal entourages for some time but this is the first time he travels as the director of the Vatican Press Office (he continues to be director of both Vatican Radio and the Vatican's CTV); Prof. Mario Agnes, editor of Osservatore Romano; Arturo Mari, photographer of Osservatore Romano; two technicians of Vatican Radio and two cameramen of CTV.

The security men travelling with the Pope include Domenico Giani, inspector-general of the Gendarmerie of Vatican City State, along with 4 gendarmes; and from Swiss Guard, Lt. Col. Jean Pitteloud and Sgt. Claudio Vassalli.

Another veteran of travelling with the Pope is Alberto Gasbarri,a former Vatican Radio official, in his new role as coordinator of Papal trips, with his assistant Paolo Corvini, from the Protocol Ofice of the Secretariat of State.

Gasbarri planned this whole trip at the organizing level from the beginning. He inspected event sites, discussed itineraries, analyzed security issues and clarified jurisdictions. During the trip, he is responsible for making sure everything runs smoothly, fully aware that he may always need to improvise despite the best-laid plans.

From the moment the Papal flight arrives at Munich international airport, the following German prelates become part of the Papal entourage: Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, Archbishop of Munich and Freising; Cardinal Karl Lehmann, president of the German bishops' conference; Archbishop Erwin Eder, Apostolic Nuncio to Germany; Mons. Wilhelm Schraml, Bishop of Passau; and two monsigonrs from the Nunciature, Marek Zalewski and Stephan Stocker.


Briefing book for journalists covering the Papal trip.
An American correspondent wrote after the Poland trip
that he had trouble following instructions because
he does not read Italian! DUH!

The Vatican Press Office selected 67 persons for the group they refer to as VAMP (for Vatican Media Personnel, whose Italian version, 'giornalisti ammessi al volo papale,' does not lend itself to an acronym).

This is probably one of the things dreamed about by Vatican correspondents who have not done it before. It does not mean just travelling on the same plane as the Pope.

It also means other privileges like receiving texts of speeches ahead of everybody else, although these are usually embargoed until they have actually been delivered. Or being assigned to the pool (limited number of press, radio, TV and still photographers) allowed to cover certain restricted events, or events in which the site cannot accommodate too many people. A pool reporter can actually be on site, gather all the facts and make observations, and then share these with the rest.

Because good reporting still means literally 'running' with the story, not watching an event on a TV screen in the Press Room, but being on site, meeting people involved in the event, getting first-hand reports and impressions, breathing the atmosphere of an event and taking in its local color.

Of course, it all comes at a cost. One must abide by the rule book, which is rather strict; and abide by the schedules [which can be very tricky because sometimes you are required to get to the next event before the Pope gets there, which means missing the end of the previous event].

Of course, discipline, seriousness, punctuality and correct behavior are necesary traits for a journalist, but even more so when one is part of the Papal flight.

The Papal flight is not a "media pilgrimage" or a "Catholic school tour" as an American journalist described it after the Pope's trip to Poland.

Professionally, it is an experience that is difficult to parallel. It means being in close tough with the Pope's own men, following the Pope through all his activities step by step. It means experiencing the atmosphere, the sounds, the sensations of travel - all of which contribute to chronicling the news, to journalism. Not to mention the spiritual aspect - But that is another story altogether.

There are actually 65 accredited journalists accompanied by two assistants - Vik van Brantagem from the Vatican Press Office, who was responsible for the minute-by-minute plotting of the work schedule and transportation from one event to another for the journalists), and Stefania Izzo of Alitalia, who takes care of air-travel arrangements.

Then Vatican media has four other working representatives - an editor, a second still photographer, and two back-up TV cameramen.

The VAMP themselves include 3 photo-reporters, including a pool photographer serving the news agencies AFP, ANSA, AP and Reuters, and one for Famiglia Cristiana; 24 members of radio-TV
teams, including 5 cameraman, one producer, 14 TV correspondents, and 4 radio announcers (representing the news agencies AP and Reuters, the German TV networks ARD, ZDF and Deutsche Welle, SAT-1, TG% Mediaset, RAI, Televisa of Mexico, Telepace, Sat-2000, Sky TG-4, Radio Cope of Spain, RAI's radio news, the Portuguese Radio Renascensa, Spain's national radio, and the American TV networks ABC, CBS and Fox); and 39 newspaper and magazine editors, including nine representing German media (Die Welt, Axel Springer Verlag, Sankt Ulrich Verlag, Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, CIC, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Münchner Merkur, Passauer Neue Presse and Mittelbayerische Zeitung).

By nationality, 20 are Italian, 16 are from Germany, nine from the USA, 4 each from France and Spain, 3 from Great Britain, 2 from Mexico, and one each from Russia, Poland and Portugal.

Among the Italins: Luigi Accattoli of Corriere della Sera, Fulvio Fania of Liberazione, Franca Giansoldati of ANSA, Ignazio Ingrao of Panorama, Roberto Montefore of L’Unità, Giacomo Muolo of Avvenire, Marco Politi of La Repubblica, Jacopo Scaramuzzi of Apcom, Andrea Tornielli of il Giornale and Marco Tosatti of La Stampa.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/09/2006 4.20]

Thanks to Imladris who posted the link
www.ewtn.com/tv/index2.htm
to EWTN's TV and Internet coverage of the Pope's trip to Bavaria.
Here is the broadcast schedule as posted.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Specials schedule is subject to change without notice.

POPE BENEDICT XVI VISIT TO GERMANY ~ SEPTEMBER 9 ~ 14

ARRIVAL OF THE HOLY FATHER (1 ½ HOURS) LIVE
Arrival at Munich Airport in the afternoon.
Saturday September 9, 2006 9:30 AM
Saturday September 9, 2006 3:30 PM ENCORE
VISIT TO MARIENPLATZ (1 ½ HOURS) LIVE
Reception and prayers at the Mariansäule on Marienplatz in Munich.
Saturday September 9, 2006 11:30 AM
Saturday September 9, 2006 5:00 PM ENCORE

MASS AND ANGELUS AT NEW FAIRGROUNDS IN MUNICH (3 HOURS) LIVE
Arrival of the Pope for special service and ride in Popemobile through Munich's New Fairgrounds to the altar island.
Sunday September 10, 2006 3:30 AM
Sunday September 10, 2006 2:30 PM ENCORE

VESPERS WITH YOUNG FAMILIES, CATECHISTS AND CHILDREN FROM THE MUNICH CATHEDRAL (60:00) LIVE
Sunday September 10, 2006 11:30 AM
Sunday September 10, 2006 10 PM ENCORE

MASS AT CHAPEL SQUARE (2 ½ HOURS) LIVE
Arrival at Chapel Square ~ prayers in the "Gnadenkapelle"
[Chapel of the Miraculous Image] and Holy Mass.
Monday September 11, 2006 4 AM
Monday September 11, 2006 2 PM ENCORE

PROCESSION TO ADORATION CHAPEL (60:00) LIVE
Procession with the ostensorium to the new worship chapel and transfer of the "Gnadenbild"
[portrait with miraculous powers] to the Basilica.
Monday September 11, 2006 6:30 AM
Monday September 11, 2006 5 PM ENCORE

VISIT TO ALTOTTING, VESPERS WITH SEMINARIANS AND VISIT TO ST. OSWALD PARISH ( 2 HOURS) LIVE
Vespers held by the Holy Father with members of the order and seminiarins in the Basilica.
Arrival in Marktl, visit to the parish church of St. Oswald.
Monday September 11, 2006 11 AM
Monday September 11, 2006 9 PM ENCORE

MASS AT ISLINGER FIELD (3 HOURS) LIVE
Holy Father's arrival at Islinger Field and Holy Mass.
Tuesday September 12, 2006 3:30 AM
Tuesday September 12, 2 006 2 PM ENCORE

MEETING WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF ACADEMIA (60:00) LIVE
Meeting with representatives of the academic world in the University of Regensburg.
Tuesday September 12, 2006 11 AM
Tuesday September 12, 2 006 5:30 PM ENCORE

If you will note, this schedule does not (yet?) include the
last two days of the visit:
On Wednesday, 9/13, the Pope's 'private day' in Regensburg -
two events will nevertheless be televised-
the blessing of the 'Benedict Organ" in the city's Alte Kapelle and, and, according to a previous report,
the Pope's visit to the family graves in Ziegetsdorf.
On Thursday, he visits Freising Cathedral and meets with the faithful there, and then he leaves Munich for Rome.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/09/2006 21.44]

Germany gets ready to toast its favorite son

From 'Benedict Beer' to pastries, rolling out the red carpet for pope visit


By Andy Eckardt
Producer
NBC News
Updated: 5:30 p.m. CT Sept 8, 2006

MAINZ, Germany — "Pope Benedict pastries" — sweet cakes with a cross in the middle — fill bakery windows in the small town of Marktl, the birthplace of Pope Benedict XVI, in anticipation of his arrival in the Catholic-dominated Bavarian heartland on Saturday.

Across town, crates of "Benedict Beer" are being brought in for the expected influx of tourists. And souvenir stores have been stocking up on pope memorabilia.

It seems as if the Vatican is following a cue from the World Cup's marketing campaign: colorful pope hats, pope T-shirts, dish-washer friendly pope mugs, pope umbrellas, pope baseball caps and even pope cigarette lighters have been flooding shops.

The small black- red-and-gold German flags that hung proudly from car windows during the soccer world championship have been exchanged for yellow-and-white flags — the colors of the Vatican.

To top it off, Germany's Benedict fans can get a free download of a new pope song, "Habemus Papam,” on the internet. Two young producers from the city of Cologne wrote the English-language pop song, and it's performed by Fabrizio Levita, a finalist in Germany's 2003 Popstar reality show.

At a time when Catholicism continues to lose its appeal in an increasingly secular world, the Vatican hopes the pope’s homecoming, and all the hype surrounding it, will revive the faithful in Germany — home of approximately 26 million Catholics.

Becoming a pop(e) star

The pope's tight schedule only grants him a 15-minute stop in his hometown, so it is unlikely that Benedict will be confronted with his picture on teddy bears or other paraphernalia. The pope’s six-day visit begins on Saturday in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, and includes a visit to Marktl and several other Bavarian towns. And it is indeed questionable if Pope Benedict is at all a fan of all the publicity.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger seemed overwhelmed — almost shocked — in the beginning, when the 115 cardinals elected him Pope Benedict XIV in April 2005.

"As the trend in the ballots slowly made me realize that — in a manner of speaking the guillotine would fall on me — I started to feel quite dizzy," said the new pope, describing his thoughts during the conclave.

"I thought that I had done my life's work and could now hope to live out my days in peace," Benedict told German pilgrims in an audience in April 2005.

In fact, he had attempted to retire several times, while serving as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under John Paul II. Even though the German cardinal was already in his mid-70s, the former pope would not accept his resignation.

For the conservative Benedict, who has repeatedly described himself as "a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord,” the first tough challenge came during the 2005 World Youth Day in Germany, when he faced thousands of Catholic adolescents — his new groupies —who cheered him like a pop star.

Teenagers from all over the world wore their national colors, waved flags and chanted "Be-ne-de-to, Be-ne-de-to" all day long — a new experience for Benedict.

"Pope Benedict is humble. He does not come from the show biz like his predecessor," the head of the Benedict order, Notker Wolf, told Germany's Stern magazine this week.


Mission: Save the church

Now on his second trip home, Benedict hopes to re-energize the faith of his countrymen once again. “With all my heart, I want the visit to my homeland to reawaken the joy in Christianity,” Benedict wrote in a letter to a church paper, the Muenchner Kirchenzeitung.

The Catholic Church certainly has an uphill battle in its effort to “sell” a positive image and market the pope as a symbolic figure of freedom and religion in order to attract new and old believers.

But can modern image campaigns and pope merchandising really help stop the declining popularity of the Catholic Church? The fact is that Germany's Catholics, roughly equal in number to the country's Protestants, attend church less and less.

"I am surprised about the hype that surrounds our new pope," said Stephan Riedel, a 36-year old Catholic from Munich.

"It seems that many people have forgotten what Joseph Ratzinger has stood for in the past 25 years. But I am amazed how well the pope has handled this new balancing act," added Riedel, an administrator at a local brewery.

The youth are demanding a more modern church. Many young Catholics say that by holding on to the traditional image of the celibate male priest, church leaders are partly responsible for the catastrophic dearth of priests and the many pedophilia scandals. Many Germans also say the church's hierarchy discriminates against women and homosexuals, and that its rigid sexual morals put people off.

‘Benedict Superstar’

Yet, despite the often harsh criticism of the Catholic Church, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to flock to the streets when Benedict arrives in Munich on Saturday. His Mass on Sunday will likely attract more than a million pilgrims.

In Regensburg, one of the locations that Benedict will visit, organizers will shut down a five-mile highway stretch of the A3, one of Germany's main east-west transportation routes. For an entire day, the "autobahn" will be used as a parking lot for tourist buses.

German officials are spending millions to prepare for the visit — 5,000 policemen alone will be deployed across the country to protect the pope. The security preparations are comparable to those during the recent visit of President George Bush.

And, once again, the visit will be a gigantic media spectacle. German public broadcaster ARD alone will be sending more than 800 employees to cover the event. Other broadcasters have built outdoor studios and will use state-of-the-art broadcast technology to cover most of the events live.

All for "Benedict Superstar,” the headline Germany's FOCUS news magazine blared on its front page during his last visit to Germany.


Andy Eckardt is an NBC News producer based in Mainz, Germany. Reuters contributed to this report.

Hot from my letter box this morning:


From Clare, in Regensburg, enjoying the local food and beer and now about to visit "Gloria's pad", though not as a guest invited by Gloria herself!!!!!
Enchoy! Mary x

APOSTOLIC VOYAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO MUNICH, ALTOETTING AND REGENSBURG,
SEPTEMBER 9-14, 2006

PROGRAM

SATURDAY, 9/9/06
Ciampino Airport, Rome
13.45 Departure for Munich

Munich

15.30 Arrival at the Franz-Josef Strauss International Airport.
WELCOME CEREMONY. Address by the Holy Father.

16.15 Travel by car to the Georgianum Seminary in Munich.

17.00 Arrival at the Georgianum Seminary, Plaza Huber. Change to Popemobile.

17.10 Travel from Georgianum Seminary to the Marienplatz.

17.30 Prayer at the Mariensauele (Mary's Pillar) in Marienplatz.
PRAYER AND GREETING BY THE HOLY FATHER.

18.15 Travel by Popemobile from Marienplatz to the Royal Residence on Max-Joseph Square.

18.30 COURTESY VISIT BY THE FEDERAL PRESIDENT of the Republic of Germany at the Residence.

19.15 MEETING WITH THE FEDERAL CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY at the Residence.

19.45 MEETING WITH THE MINISTER-PRESIDENT OF BAVARIA at the Residence.

20.15 Travel by Popemobile from the Royal Residence to the Archbishop's Palace

20.30 Arrival at the Archbishop's Palace.

Just to keep you up-to-date:

They just said on Bavarian TV that the plane set off a few minutes late because of two British aeroplanes which were a bit slow. Pope Benedict gave some interviews and had some photos taken. He is still going to arrive in time.

Here is an excellent primer on Bavaria from the English Catholic newspaper, THE TABLET.

Laptops and lederhosen
By Michael Holland
9 September 2006

For months Bavaria, the home of ‘Germany's Lourdes', has been preparing to welcome its most famous living son, Pope Benedict XVI. When he arrives on a pastoral visit this weekend, the Pope will be rediscovering a region that combines traditional and modern to generate both economic and cultural vitality.

In winter, the twin spires of the Stiftspfarrkirche glisten above the snow-covered roofs of Altötting, the place Pope Benedict has called the "heart of Bavaria".

With good eyes you might just glimpse them from the platform of the tiny halt of Heiligenstatt - or "holy place" - a newly reopened stop on the SüdostBayernBahn branch line that meanders through forest and field from the railway junction town of Mühldorf to Burghausen on the Austrian border.

At this time of year the sight is more tricky, the church being obscured by the shimmering maize filling the flood plain of the River Inn. So leave the station and join the Kreuzweg, the Way of the Cross with its 14 shrines recording Christ's Passion, which weaves the five kilometres or so through the late summer crops to the town that is also known as Germany's Lourdes, and the spires soon come into view.

In the centre of Altötting stands an ancient octagonal chapel, dating back to the seventh century, that houses the "black Madonna", a small statue of the Blessed Virgin carved from lime wood some 700 years ago, whose face has darkened from fire, age and hundreds of thousands of votive candles burnt to invoke her intercession.

In 1489 a drowned child came back to life after being placed near the statue and for more than half a millennium pilgrims have come to pray to Our Lady of Altötting, to whom many miracles and healings have since been attributed.

On Monday, Pope Benedict will become the latest of these pilgrims when his helicopter touches down on a playing field on the edge of town. He will be beginning the third of a six-day tour of his native Bavaria, which was thrust into the global spotlight on 19 April last year with a puff of white smoke from the Sistine Chapel. Suddenly the world's eyes were on this, the largest and arguably most successful state of the modern German federation. So what makes it tick?

First, Bavaria is big. To the south are the Alps of former rival and ally Austria and of Switzerland, to the west the ancient lands of Swabia, to the north the old lands of Thuringia, more recently part of East Germany, and to the east is Bohemia, now the Czech Republic.

During the 1,500 years of their existence, the borders of Bavaria have fluctuated wildly. Today the state includes a part of Swabia (the rest forming the neighbouring state of Baden Württemberg); Franconia that includes cities such as Nuremberg, Bayreuth and Coburg (home to the Queen's great-great-grandfather, Prince Albert) and the Upper Palatinate, which includes Regensburg where the Pope was professor of Dogmatic Theology at the university between 1969 and 1977.

These northern parts of the state tend to be Lutheran with Regensburg lying on the faultline between Protestant and Catholic. But south of this line, in the modern administrative regions of Lower Bavaria and Upper Bavaria (so called because of its Alpine connection), is the core of the state. It is conservative and very Catholic - the universal greeting used by young and old, in supermarkets and schools, is "Grüss Gott" - the greeting of God.

Second, Bavaria is booming. If Altötting is the heart of Bavaria, then Munich, its capital, is the brain behind its success. At the end of the Second World War, some 95 per cent of Bavarians earned their living from the land. Then Siemens, displaced from East Berlin, moved south. Perhaps some Prussian punctuality came too and, coupled with a Bavarian disdain for flimflam and desire for straight talking, set the ball rolling.

Today the state, and Munich in particular, is an industrial and technological powerhouse, home not just to Siemens, BMW, the truck- and bus-maker MAN and the insurance giant Allianz, but to hundreds of telecommunications and IT firms, to scores of film and TV production companies and to burgeoning biotech industries that put it on a par with Cambridge.

Artists and writers, particularly those of caustic Bavarian satire, are in plentiful supply, and there is a sophisticated transfer of knowledge from academia to commerce.

With Germany's lowest unemployment rate, high salaries and educational excellence, Bavarians have prospered from what the state's conservative ruling CSU party calls a policy of "laptops and lederhosen" - combining the economically new with the politically traditional, as exemplified by the unembarrassed wearing of short leather shorts or collarless jackets and small feathered hats. The combination appears to work, as people are fiercely proud of their heritage, with many if not most regarding themselves as Bavarian before being German.

In the English-speaking world, after so many decades of anti-German propaganda, such nationalistic fervour can sometimes be regarded with suspicion. Munich, the place of failed appeasement, was to have a Third Reich makeover to rival Berlin's. To the south of the city, in the now golf-course-manicured Bavarian Alps, lies Berchtesgaden, Hitler's hilltop hideaway obliterated by the Americans at the end of the war, while nearer to the north of the city is Dachau, whose name on a motorway signboard can still send a shiver down the spine.

But Bavarians can be radical risk-takers. One of the key players in the plot to assassinate Hitler was Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg from the south-west of the state, while Hans and Sophie Scholl were students at Munich University when they led the White Rose resistance movement before being caught and guillotined by the Gestapo. Both the Scholls and von Stauffenberg were inspired by their Catholicism.

Bavaria has been home to many writers, musicians, painters and film-makers, such as Bertolt Brecht, Richards Wagner and Strauss, Albrecht Dürer, and Werner Herzog and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. It has also housed such scientists as Max Plank, Werner Heisenberg and Wilhelm Röntgen, and inventors such as Rudolf Diesel, not to mention the neurologist Alois Alzheimer. But currently its most famous son is Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI.

It was drizzling and the streets were empty just before 6 p.m. local time on 19 April last year in the small town of Marktl am Inn, a few kilometres east of Altötting. The man who had just been elected the 264th successor to St Peter was born in a house at the end of the marketplace 78 years and three days earlier. By the time the new Pope appeared on the Vatican balcony, a crowd was gathering. Following a celebratory Mass, an evening of free beer and Bavarian music followed, and Marktl, along with much of the rest of Bavaria, has hardly stopped celebrating since.

Although Pope Benedict, fulfilling an engagement of his predecessor, attended World Youth Day in Cologne last year, his pastoral visit to Bavaria, which begins today, Saturday, when the papal plane touches down at Munich's Franz Josef Strauss airport at 3.30 p.m. local time, will be a chance for Germans and particularly Bavarians to honour one of their own.

On the red carpet to welcome the pontiff will be head of the German state, President Horst Köhler; head of the German Government, Chancellor Angela Merkel; head of the Bavarian Government, Edmund Stoiber; and a couple of cardinals, Archbishop of Munich and Freising Friedrich Wetter, and chairman of the German bishops' conference, Karl Lehman.

The Pope will process through the city that he served as archbishop from 1977 to 1982 and tomorrow will say Mass before thousands in the open air of the Munich Trade Centre. On Monday he visits Altötting with a side trip to Marktl before flying on to Regensburg, former capital of Bavaria, home to the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, and one of the finest intact medieval cities in Europe.

On the last day of his visit, Pope Benedict flies to Freising where he is due to pray in front of the shrine to the eighth-century saint Corbinian, whose symbol of a saddled bear Benedict has incorporated into his coat of arms. Corbinian established the bishopric of Freising, which fell vacant at his death in 730 until the German apostle, St Boniface, the feller of Thor's Oak who was born in Devon more than 1,300 years ago, confirmed Corbinian's brother Erembert to the see.

Pope Benedict flies out of Munich just as thousands arrive for the gross indulgence that is the Oktoberfest, avoided by some though by no means all beer-loving Bavarians. But one can't help thinking that the pontiff may have shared a glass or two with his brother Georg during their private time together on Wednesday.

After all, Freising boasts the oldest brewery in the world, set up in 1040 by the Benedictine monks of the Weihenstephan monastery; and what could be more Bavarian than sitting in a beer garden, under chestnut trees planted to shade the cellars below, and shooting the breeze, theological or otherwise?

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/01/2007 16.07]

Here is the lead story on the Papal visit from Avvenire today,9/9/06:

THE ARRIVAL
It is a pilgrimage among his memories that the Pope begins this afternoon in Bavaria, 'Land' [in German, the word means both land and country, as well as a federal state, as Bavaria is in Germany] of his birth, and where he was student and seminarian, professor and archibishop.. His autobiography made many references to the places associated with his life and career which are very dear to him.

ALL BAVARIA FOR 'ITS' POPE
By Roma Mimmo Muolo

From the Georgianum seminary, where he studied, to the Sanctuary of Altoetting, where he frequently came as pilgrim since he was a child. From the small parish church where he was baptized, to the great cathedrals of Freising and Munich where he was ordained priest then archbishop. From the University of Regensburg, where he taught, to the cemetery of Ziegestsdorf, where his parent and sister are buried.

Benedict XVI's trip to Bavaria which begins today will trace the itinerary of his personal memories. He said so openly in the interview he gave to German TV last month.

"I would like to see once more the places, the persons among whom I grew up, who have marked me and have shaped my life. And to thank them all."

This will therefore be one of the principal keys to interpret Papa Ratzinger's second visit to Germany since he became Pope.
An itinerary which from the first to the last stage we can follow, using his own recollections as we know them from his many writings.

The Georgianum Seminary, for instance. This will be the first place with personal memories for the Pope that he will see after his arrival this afternoon. It is connected to his university years when he studied theology at the University of Munich from 1947 to 1950. But the first two years, classes were held at the former royal hunting lodge, Fuerstenried Castle, because the Georgianum had been bombed.

In his autobiography, he remembers: “In 1949, a wing of the Georgianum had been made habitable,” but “we noticed right away that much remained to be done. We had to reach our thirdd-floor rooms across an open space, and at least, in the beginning, using a ladder.”

How different it will be when he returns to the Georgianum today!

It is not hard to imagine the crowds that will be awaiting him at the Mariensauele, the column of the Madonna on Marienplatz. Here he will repeat the act of faith with which he entrusted Bavaria to the protection of its Patroness on February 28, 1982, when he left Munich to become Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Tomorrow afternoon, after the Sunday Mass at Munich’s New Fairgrounds, Papa Ratzinger will return to what was his cathedral as Archbishop of Munich and Freising, for a celebration of Vespers.

It was here that on May 28, 1977, he was consecrated bishop. He says of that day: “The Cathedral of Munich, which after the reconstruction following the Second World War, gave an impression of sobriety, was magnificently decorated, conveying an atmosphere of joy in which one was caught up irresistibly.”

Monday morning, Benedict XVI will visit the “religious heart of Bavaria,” Germany’s most famous Marian shrine.

“I had the good fortune to be born near Altoetting," Ratzinger wrote in a preface to a 2005 guide to the city. “The pilgrimages with my family are among the most beautiful memories of my childhood. The best moment for me was always visiting the Gnadenkapelle (Chapel of Mercy), with its mysterious darkness, the Most Holy Black Madonna surrounded by gifts, the silent prayers of the faithful, the devotion of the pilgrims.”

But the boy Joseph would never have imagined he would be coming back one day as Pope! Even if, as a cardinal, he came often on pilgrimage to ‘his’ sanctuary. The last time was in January 2005 with his brother Georg, just a few months before he was elected Pope.

Then on Monday afternoon, the Pope will make a quick side trip to Marktl am Inn, where he was born. He will visit the little church of St.Oswald where, on April 17, 1927, on a day of ‘biting cold’, he was baptized, as he says in his autobiography, “with the just-blessed water of the Easter vigil, which in those days was celebrated in the morning. Being the first to be baptized with the new water was an important premonitory sign. Personally, I have always been grateful for the fact that from the beginning, my life was always immersed in the mystery of Easter.”

The final stages of this vist will be to Regensburg and Freising. At the University of Regensburg, where he meets with representatives from the world of science on Tuesday, he taught dogma and the history of dogma from 1969-1977.

In the Cathedral of Regensburg, where ecumenical Vespers will be celebrated Tuesday afternoon, brother Georg had directed for the famous boys choir of Regensburg for more than 20 years.

And finally, Freising. Benedict XVI returns Thursday to the Cathedral where he was ordained a priest on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 1951.

“One should not be superstitious,” he writes, “but at the moment when the old archbishop formally laid his hands on me, a little bird flew up from the main altar of the cathedral and chirped a little song of joy. For me, it was as if a voice from on high was telling me: 'This is good – you are on the right path.'”

The path which eventually led him to Rome. From where he now returns home in the white robes of the Head of the Universal Church.

From korazym.org, a view of the coverage in the German press:

PAPER WELCOME

MUNICH – “Good day, Holy Father!” That was the greeting of many German papers today, with the accent on the city of Munich which was ready to receive the Pope and the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who are ariving for the celebrations.

Most editors played up the visit on Page 1 with photographs and large block headlines.

The Rheinische Merkur, beside a picture of the Holy Father’s face, underscores the personal character of this visit and the emotion with which Bavaria Awaits its Pope. There is a picture of the Pope’s brother Georg who is holding a picture of his brother the first time he was seen as Pope.

The Augsburger Allgemeine tells the Pope’s life in its headline: “From Marktl am Inn to the summit of the Church”, saying in a subtitle that this was a “vacation at home” because “Benedict is one of us.” The article stresses the wish of most Bavarians to bring out the human character of a Pope who loves cats and roses.

Adding a touch of German patriotism, the newspaper lists what the Pope will be eating at the Archbishop’s Palace of Munich where he will be staying, from classic steak and potatoes tp apple strudel with vanilla cream. They do not say what the Capuchin monks of Altoetting will be serving the Pope.

Some, like the TZ Wochenend, choose to remember in parallel the visit of John Paul II to Munich in 1980 [a welcome organized, it must be said, by the then Archbishop of Munich, Joseph Ratzinger]: “The previous Pope celebrate Mass with 600,000 pilgrims.”

It was almost like posing a tacit challenge: “And how many will come in 2006 for the German Pope?” No forecast, except for an estimate of how many will be in the streets today to give Benedict his first greeting as Pope in the city where he was Archbishop for more than four years.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung predicts ”More than half a million pilgrims just for the Mass.”

The Mittelbayerische Zeitung h as a small table of statistics for the visit: More than 70 cardinals and bishops from around the world will concelebrate Mass with the Pope; 2000 volunteers to distribute mass booklets and souvenir bags to pilgrims; 926 persons to administer communion, of which 345 are priests; 5000 policemen discreetly positioned along Benedicte’s public routes….

The BILD newspaper has a more general approach and asks: “What does the Pope mean to Christians and for the world?” A quick analysis which concludes by saying that the Vatican has no real power in world politics but continues to be a moral authority.

In Munich’s New Fairgrounds, where a press center has been set up for some 4000 journalists accredited to cover events on the trip, one can get the September 9 special issue of Osservatore Romano which dedicates 16 pages to Joseph Ratzinger.

“Pope Benedict visits his homeland – welcome from the heart, Holy Father!” There is a big picture of a smiling Benedict with his arms raised in greeting.

Ample space is given to a coverage of the Pope’s August 30 meeting in Castel Gandolfo with dozens of parish priestrs from Bavaria and the other German states. It is followed by a resume of the Pope’s life and a summary of preparations by local communities in Bavaria for his visit. The back page has a picture of Cardinal Wetter who is examining a map with the places to be visited by the Pope, as well as a picture of the house where Joseph Ratzinger was born.

The Diocese of Passau had a similar special in its own organ, the Passauer Bistumsblatt: a biographical voyage of Joseph Ratzinger from birth to his first visit to Bavaria as Pope.

A second story from Avvenire gives us more figures:

The enthusiasm of a region
By Paolo Vicentin

The figures offered these days by the German press on the preparations and for the Pope’s visit are impressive. The local newspapers have been covering the pre-event period with great interest and a wealth of data.

Munich's famous newspaper, C]Sueddeutsche Zeitung, has devoted much space to this events, and its headlines express the value and enthusiasm that the whole region is investing into this appointment with the Pope.

The “faithful of Rome’, as Catholics used to be called once, is conscious that this Successor of Peter, one of their own, gives great importance to this return to his homeland, and has expressed the wish that his visit may help Christians revive their faith in a world intent on welfare, entertainment, and much hustle and bustle, but alas, much indifference to religion.

Some headlines taken from Sueddeutsche Zeitung – “All for one”, “3000 buses bring pilgrims to visit the Holy Father’, “The Pope arrives – Thousands of volunteers available for Bavaria’s great event.”

The newspaper, in previous days, has given much space to stories recounting the Pope’s life, particularly his youth and his studies at the local seminary.

Under the title “The Pope in Bavaria”, the newspaper cites some figures for the event: more than a million pilgrims, mostly coming by train; 600,000 expected at the religious ceremonies.

Outward preparations, which have been going on for months, centered on crowd control, parking, first aid stations, restrooms and other services necessary for a visit of this magnitude.

Soon after the trip was confirmed, the archdiocese of Munich named a committee to take charge of preparations and logistics. They concentrated on the places where the Papal events would take place, on the liturgies, on security, on financing, on feasibility, on means of communication. In this, they worked with the dhoceses of Passau and Regensburg, the other places hosting the Pope on this trip.

Civilian agencies were involved for security, peace and order, transportaion and traffic arrangements. Police, fire departments and health agencies have been mobilized for the event. Volunteers from the Knights of Malta assistance service and the Bavarian Red Cross will man dozens of first-aid stations, each one with a doctor and 20 nurses.

Some 5000 policemen will be on duty for the Masses in Munich and Regensburg. Another 1000 will be present for the other Papal events. Anti-terrorist measures have been taken, and the skies over Bavaria will be patrolled and protected. Security measures have involved the authorities of surrounding German states.

The influx of pilgrims from all over Germany is indicated by the fact that at least 3,000 buses would be transporting pilgrims to and from Bavaria (as well as neighboring Austria and Slovakia) for the event, in addition to those coming by train.

At least 65 special trains have been reserved for pilgrims from Austria and other parts of Germany, with 3000 policemen assigned to provide security. But security measures are such that pilgrims will have about an hour’s walk from the parking sites for the Masses to the actual Mass area.

And from the English service of Deutsche Welle, the official German broadcasting agency, here is a pre-visit story about the atmosphere at Marienplatz before the Pope's arrival that they updated to include the Pope's actual arrival.


Munich Welcomes Pope Home



Pope Benedict arrived in the Bavarian capital of Munich on Saturday to a rapturous welcome by cheering crowds waving Vatican and Bavarian flags. The 79-year-old pontiff drove into the centre of town in his white "papamobile."

"It is very moving for me to be back in this beautiful square, at the foot of the column of the Virgin Mary," he said at Marienplatz, the main square of the Bavarian capital that was packed with crowds including many in traditional folk dress.

He smiled and nodded in agreement when Bavarian Premier
Edmund Stoiber announced: "Our German Pope has come back to his Bavarian homeland!"

Earlier, Munich’s central shopping mile, Kaufingerstrasse, seemed almost deserted on Saturday morning. While the majority of Munich residents had heeded calls to avoid downtown, those coming to see Benedict arrive in the city were slow to trickle in.

“Maybe they’re coming from somewhere else,” said Christian Pröhl, a 19-year-old boy scout from the nearby town of Freising, who had volunteered to work at one of dozens of information points set up around the city to offer help to pilgrims.

“There are lots of ways that lead to Marienplatz,” he added.

Marienplatz, the square in front of Munich’s city hall, had been chosen as the place where the pope would first pray with people during his visit to Bavaria. It was here that he bid his final farewell when he left Munich as an archbishop in 1982 to move to Rome.

“Grüss Gott, daheim!” or “Welcome Home” read the headline of one of the city’s Saturday papers that were on sale in boxes along the street. Restaurants that had advertised live screenings of World Cup soccer matches just a few weeks ago were not luring in guests with promises of live coverage of the pope’s visit that would take place a few hundred meters away.

Pope prices

Some stores were even trying to convince people to drop in by offering a special “pope price” – a 10 percent discount. Many shops hadn’t even opened on this crisp, sunny day while others decided to close early as nearly no one was coming by.

“We had one customer, the others were just looking for a restroom,” said Daniela Schimanski, 32, who works at a clothing store on Marienplatz.

But even the day’s ultimate sale items weren’t flying off the stands early Saturday.

“We’ve been here since Monday, but yesterday was the first day that people started opening up,” said Jürgen Schreyeck, 57, who’s been selling everything from pots and pans to building loans at street stalls for the past 30 years and was trying to find buyers for pope devotional objects including rosaries, T-shirts and coffee mugs with Benedict’s image as well as yellow and white Vatican flags.

“Four euros ($5) for the one you hold in the hand and six for the one that attaches to the car,” Schreyeck told a couple of women who had come to check out the merchandise.

“For me, these are the hardest things to sell,” he said, adding that many people had questioned the ethics of selling papal knickknack.

“He doesn’t really want all of that,” Schreyeck said, referring to the pope. “He’s really the simplest kind of man.” But the salesman also made sure to point out that all his products had been officially sanctioned by the church.

“He speaks directly to the heart”

At Marienplatz, where the roaring of helicopters flying above mingled with the first “Be-ne-detto” chants, the most devoted pope admirers had already secured a space near St. Mary’s column by noon to get as close as possible inside the high-security area. The pope wasn’t expected to arrive before 5:30 p.m.

“I’ve been here since 8:30 a.m. – I just wanted to take in some of the atmosphere,” said Sister Raphaela of the Vincentian Sisters of Charity order, who had come from the neighboring state of Baden-Württemberg, adding that she had become an admirer of the pope only recently.

“Before, I was neutral,” said the 43-year-old nun, sitting on the ground just behind the bars set up before the column. “My opinion changed once I started reading his books. I really like his language. He speaks directly to the heart.”

The Verjans family, who had driven six hours from the town of Mönchengladbach, was equally thrilled to get close to Benedict.

“It’s great, we haven’t seen him before,” said 11-year-old Christine Verjans, who said she was passing the time with her 10-year-old brother, Bernhard, by playing tag, watching people and giving interviews to journalists. “It’s great fun even though it’ll still take so long before he comes.”

Back at the information booth, boy scout Christian Pröhl said he wasn’t too upset that he would not be able to see the pope in Munich as his shift went until 8 p.m.

“We’re going to see him in Freising,” he said, referring to the pope’s final stop of his trip next Thursday. “It’s cool that the pope is from Bavaria. If he’d been from somewhere else, I wouldn’t really have cared that much.”

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/09/2006 20.29]

Munich, Sep. 09, 2006 (CNA) - Pope Benedict XVI offered words of thanks and encouragement today, as he began his trip through the land of his birth.

The Pontiff was greeted, upon his arrival in Munich, by German President Horst Köhler, Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Bavarian Minister-President Edmund Stoiber, as well as various members of the German Catholic hierarchy and numerous other officials.

Descending from his Alitalia jet to the cheers of thousands gathered in a small greeting area setup on the tarmac, the Pope strode past German military guards, accompanied by President Köhler. The Pontiff stood at attention as he was granted the full military welcome of a visiting head of state, his white cassock blowing about in the wind.

The Pope shook hands and exchanged quick words with the men, women, and children lining his path as he and the president worked their way to a temporary stage flanked by German, Bavarian, and European Union flags, whipping in the wind.

The German president welcomed the Pope, speaking glowingly of the first years of his Pontificate. Köhler, who is Protestant, recalled the “moving experience” of last year’s World Youth Day, held in Cologne. The president remarked at the “powerful presence” of the Catholic Church in Germany and spoke hopefully of the ongoing process of ecumenical dialogue.

Following Köhler’s words of welcome, the Pope reflected briefly on the purpose of his trip. “Conscious of how much I have received,” Benedict said, “I have come here above all to express my deep gratitude towards all those who helped shape me as a person.”

But, the Pope continued, “I also come here as the Successor of the Apostle Peter, to reaffirm and strengthen the deep bonds linking the See of Rome and the Church in our native land.”

Benedict reminded everyone of the tremendous history of the Catholic faith in Germany and particularly in Bavaria. A history, he said, which has been constantly nourished by firm adherence to Christian values.

He also noted that the faith history of the country “is witnessed to by famous monuments, majestic cathedrals, statues and paintings of great artistic value, literary works, cultural initiatives and above all, the many individual and community events which reflect the Christian beliefs of successive generations in this Land which is so dear to me.”

The Pontiff insisted that although society has changed, it is important to continue passing on the faith to younger generations.

“I think we are all united in the hope that new generations will remain faithful to the spiritual patrimony which has withstood all the crises of history.

"My visit to the land of my birth is meant to be an encouragement in this regard: Bavaria is a part of Germany; sharing in the ups and downs of Germany’s history, and has good reason to be proud of the traditions inherited from the past.
'
"My hope is that all my compatriots in Bavaria and throughout Germany will play an active part in the transmission of the fundamental values of the Christian faith to the citizens of tomorrow.”

The Pope concluded his remarks expressing his desire to someday visit other parts of Germany and thanking all those who have worked to prepare for his visit. He offered a greeting to all Germans, noting that he was not only thinking of Catholics, but Lutherans, Orthodox Christians, and members of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities as well as “all people of good will.”

“May the Lord bless the efforts of all those concerned to build a future of true well-being for the good of the whole nation,” the Pope said, entrusting his intentions to the Blessed Virgin Mary through a traditional Bavarian prayer. “Preserve, O Virgin and Patroness, your Bavarian people, their goods, their government, their land and their religion!”

The Pope then departed for downtown Munich, where he will offer a special prayer at the Marian statue in the city’s central square.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/09/2006 20.47]

Here is AP's wrap-up story of Day 1:

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON
Associated Press Writer

MUNICH, Germany(AP) Greeted by a thunderous chorus of church bells, Pope Benedict XVI began a pilgrimage to his native Bavaria on Saturday, a six-day visit laden with meaning for him and the future of his increasingly liberal Roman Catholic flock in Germany.

Tens of thousands poured into the narrow streets in this city where he served as priest and archbishop more than a quarter-century ago, before moving to the Vatican as the church's doctrinal watchdog. "My heart beats Bavarian," he assured reporters on his plane from Rome.

Benedict, 79, was welcomed by German President Horst Koehler and Chancellor Angela Merkel before his ride to the city's central Marienplatz square where he prayed at the 17th century statue of the Virgin Mary, the patroness of Bavaria - Germany's Roman Catholic heartland.

On the plane, Benedict told reporters he would like to visit more of Germany in the future, a reminder of his age that brought a hint of nostalgia to the trip.

"I am an old man," he said. "I don't know how much time the Lord will grant me."

"At least one more time, I am getting to see my homeland," Benedict said.

But the visit carries more than nostalgic meaning for Benedict, posing instead one of the prime challenges he has taken on in his 16-month papacy - combating secular trends in the West.

He took this up immediately upon arrival, paying tribute to Bavaria's Catholic tradition over the centuries but acknowledging that "today's social context is in many ways different from that of the past."

"Nonetheless, I think that we all join in the hope that the coming generations may remain true to the spiritual heritage," he said. "My wish is that all my countrymen in Bavaria and Germany together actively participate in the handing down of the foundational values of the Christian faith to the citizens of tomorrow."

Many Catholics in Germany, as elsewhere in the West, complain about Benedict's opposition to ordination of women, gay marriage and married priests.

More than 100,000 Germans officially leave the church every year, at least some of them to avoid paying a church tax levied by the government and used to finance the church. Although the number leaving was down to 101,000 in 2004 from 129,000 the year before, only about 14 percent of German Catholics attend Sunday Mass.

Still, Benedict got a warm welcome. People on the streets waved and cheered, while bells pealed at the landmark Church of Our Lady and other churches.

Susanna Pintaric said she and her 12 children arrived early at Marienplatz to get a spot in the hope of a glimpse of Benedict as he drove by.

"Seeing the pope for us is like seeing Christ," the 43-year-old homemaker said. "He's not just the representative of Christ, he's the person who helps us to live."

*But Josef Dari, 30, a native Romanian who is a car salesman in Munich and wore traditional Bavarian lederhosen, criticized the pope's support of the more conservative tenets of Catholicism.

*"He puts himself on the same level as Jesus Christ and that's just wrong. The pope should be a preacher, not a holy man. A holy man is someone who performs miracles," Dari said.

[Teresa's note on the above two paragraphs: I don't see why of all the possible dissenting quotes the writer might have elicited and reported, he chooses one from someone who is apparently ignorant in matters of the Church! The quotation does not even support the general statement that precedes it. If what the writer wanted was to illustrate dissent, he could have had his pick. And if I were his editor I would not have used these two paragraphs at all - they add nothing germane to the story !]

The visit is the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's second to Germany, but the first to his Bavarian homeland since his April 2005 election to succeed Pope John Paul II.

Benedict was ordained a priest in Freising, outside Munich, and taught theology at the University of Regensburg and elsewhere before becoming archbishop of Munich in 1977. He left Bavaria after being named the Vatican's chief doctrinal watchdog by John Paul II in 1981.

He'll visit all those places on this trip, including a 15-minute stop in Marktl am Inn, where he spent the first two years of his life. He has said in his memoirs he has no memories of the town, however.

Conservative Benedict's election aroused mixed feelings in Germany - the now largely secular land of the Protestant Reformation and home to a shrinking and distinctly liberal Catholic Church. But there is also strong pride in the German pope, particularly in Bavaria.

On Sunday, Benedict plans to lead an open-air Mass for an expected 250,000 people at the sprawling trade fair grounds on Munich's outskirts.
---------------------------------------------------------------


Paparatzifan took these photos of the airport arrival ceremonies from the mexicosiemprefiel site:



[

















THE HOLY FATHER'S ARRIVAL SPEECH IN MUNICH
English translation by Vatican Radio


Address of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
At the Arrival Ceremony
Munich, Saturday, 9 September 2006


Mr President,
Madam Chancellor and Mr Prime Minister,
My Brother Cardinals and Bishops,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today with great emotion I set foot, for the first time since my elevation to the Chair of Peter, on German and Bavarian soil. I return to my homeland and among my own people, in order to visit certain places of fundamental importance in my life.

I am grateful to the President of the Republic, Dr Horst Köhler, for his cordial words of welcome. In those words I sensed a faithful echo of the sentiments of all our people.

I thank the Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel, and the Prime Minister, Dr Edmund Stoiber, for the kindness with which they have honoured my arrival on German soil.

I also offer greetings and the expression of my gratitude to the members of Government, the ecclesiastical, civil and military authorities, and all those who are here to welcome me on this visit, which is so meaningful for me.

At this moment, many memories of the years I passed in Munich and Regensburg come back to mind: memories of people and events which have deeply marked my life. Conscious of how much I have received, I have come here above all to express my deep gratitude towards all those who helped shape me as a person.

But I also come here as the Successor of the Apostle Peter, to reaffirm and strengthen the deep bonds linking the See of Rome and the Church in our native land.

These bonds have a history going back centuries and constantly nourished by firm adherence to the values of the Christian faith, an adherence in which the region of Bavaria can take particular pride.

It is witnessed to by famous monuments, majestic cathedrals, statues and paintings of great artistic value, literary works, cultural initiatives and above all, the many individual and community events which reflect the Christian beliefs of successive generations in this Land which is so dear to me.

The relations between Bavaria and the Holy See, notwithstanding some moments of tension, have always been marked by cordial respect. At decisive moments in their history, the Bavarian people have always confirmed their sincere devotion to the See of Peter and their firm attachment to the Catholic faith. The Mariensäule standing in Munich’s central square is an eloquent testimony to that faith.

Today’s social context is in many ways different from that of the past. Still, I think we are all united in the hope that new generations will remain faithful to the spiritual patrimony which has withstood all the crises of history.

My visit to the land of my birth is meant to be an encouragement in this regard: Bavaria is a part of Germany; sharing in the ups and downs of Germany’s history, and has good reason to be proud of the traditions inherited from the past.

My hope is that all my compatriots in Bavaria and throughout Germany will play an active part in the transmission of the fundamental values of the Christian faith to the citizens of tomorrow.

I would gladly have visited other parts of Germany too, including all the various local Churches, especially those linked to personal memories. I have received many signs of affection from everywhere, and especially from the Dioceses of Bavaria, during this early stage of my Pontificate.

So I am pleased to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to everyone, and I entrust to God’s Providence the possibility of future meetings with those Particular Churches.

Finally I have the pleasant duty of expressing heartfelt appreciation for all that has been done to prepare for the meetings of the next few days and to ensure that my visit proceeds smoothly.

I would also like to extend a most cordial greeting to all the people of Bavaria and the whole of Germany. I am thinking here not only of the Catholic faithful, to whom my visit is principally directed, but also of the members of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities, particularly Lutheran and Orthodox Christians.

Finally I greet the followers of other religions and all people of good will who have at heart the peace and freedom of this country.

May the Lord bless the efforts of all those concerned to build a future of true well-being for the good of the whole nation. I entrust these prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, venerated in this land as the Patrona Bavariae.

I do so in the classic prayer of Jakob Balde: Rem regem regimen regionem religionem conserva Bavaris, Virgo Patrona, tuis! – Preserve, O Virgin and Patroness, for your Bavarian people, their goods, their government, their land and their religion!

To all those present I offer a heartfelt “Grüß Gott!”

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/09/2006 17.24]

Another two pictures of a wonderful day:

Greeting of His Holiness Pope Benedict XV
Saturday, 9 September 2006, Munich, Marienplatz
English translation by Vatican Radio

Madam Chancellor and Mr Prime Minister,
My Brother Cardinals, Bishops and Priests,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Brothers and Sisters!

It is very moving for me to stand once more in this beautiful square at the foot of the Mariensäule – in a place which already witnessed two other decisive turning-points in my life.

Here, almost thirty years ago, the faithful welcomed me with joy as their new Archbishop: I then began my ministry with a prayer to the Mother of God.

Here too, five years later, after being called to Rome by the Pope, I bade farewell to my Diocese and once more addressed a prayer to the Patrona Bavariae, entrusting “my” city and homeland to her protection. Today I am here again – this time as the Successor of Saint Peter.

I thank the Prime Minister, Dr Edmund Stoiber, for his cordial words of welcome in the name of the Bavarian regional government.

I also thank my successor as Pastor of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, for his warm welcome on behalf of the faithful of the Archdiocese.

I greet the Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel, and all the political, civil and military authorities taking part in this brief ceremony of welcome and prayer.

I would like to offer a special greeting to the priests, especially those whom I worked with in my home Diocese of Munich and Freising.

Finally I greet all of you with great love, my dear compatriots and friends, who have gathered in this square to demonstrate your affection! I thank you for your warm welcome, and I think in particular of all those who have worked to prepare for this meeting and the whole of my journey.

I hope you will allow me to recall on this occasion a few thoughts which I set down in brief memoirs with regard to my appointment as Archbishop of Munich and Freising.

I became the successor of Saint Corbinian. From my childhood I was very much taken with the story that a bear had attacked and killed the horse which the saint was riding on a journey to Rome.

According to the legend, the saint punished the bear by putting on his back the load that the horse had been carrying. So the bear had to carry this load across the Alps all the way to Rome, and only there did the saint set him free.

In 1977, when I had to face the difficult choice whether or not to accept my appointment as Archbishop of Munich and Freising, knowing that it would take me away from my beloved work at the university, this bear with its heavy burden reminded me of Saint Augustine’s interpretation of verses 22 and 23 of Psalm 73.

The Psalmist, asking why God’s friends suffer, says: “I was foolish and did not understand, standing before you like a dumb animal. Nevertheless I am continually with you.”

Augustine, seeing in the word “animal” a reference to the beasts of burden used by farmers to work the land, saw here an image of himself, burdened by his episcopal ministry, the sarcina episcopalis.

He had chosen the life of scholarship, and God had called him to become a “beast of burden”, a pack animal, a good ox drawing the plough in God’s field, this world ...

But at this point the Psalm gave him enlightenment and consolation: for just as the beast of burden is closest to the farmer and, under his direction, carries out the burdensome work entrusted to him, so the Bishop is very close to God, because he carries out an important service for his Kingdom.

With these words of the Bishop of Hippo in mind, I have found in Saint Corbinian’s bear a constant encouragement to carry out my ministry with confidence and joy – thirty years ago, and again now in my new task – and to say my daily “yes” to God: I have become for you a beast of burden, but as such “I am always with you” (Ps 73:23).

Saint Corbinian’s bear was set free in Rome. In my case, the Lord decided otherwise. And so I find myself once more at the foot of the Mariensäule, imploring the intercession and blessing of the Mother of God, this time not only for the city of Munich and for Bavaria, but for the universal Church and for all people of good will.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Munich, Sep. 09, 2006 (CNA) - Following a brief visit to Munich’s Georgianum Seminary, Pope Benedict arrived at the city’s central square to the cheers of countless Bavarians.

The Pope greeted the citizens of Munich, the city where he once served as archbishop, and assured them that he remains with them, becoming for them “a beast of burden.”

On a sunny, but windy Munich afternoon the Popemobile wound its way through the city’s streets, lined all the way with cheering faithful waving Vatican and Bavarian flags and chanting “Benedetto! Benedetto!”

The German Pontiff, dressed in his white cassock, scarlet mozzetta, and Pontifical stole, also bore an enormous smile, waving and extending his hands outward in an open embrace to those gathered.

Following a greeting from Edmund Stoiber, President-Minister of Bavaria, and Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, who succeeded Benedict as Archbishop of Munich and Freising, the Pontiff addressed the crowd, emphasizing the significance Munich’s “Mariensäule” (Column of Mary) has played in his life.

“It is very moving for me to stand once more in this beautiful square at the foot of the Mariensäule – in a place which already witnessed two other decisive turning-points in my life,” the Pope declared.

“Here, almost thirty years ago, the faithful welcomed me with joy as their new Archbishop: I then began my ministry with a prayer to the Mother of God. Here too, five years later, after being called to Rome by the Pope, I bade farewell to my Diocese and once more addressed a prayer to the Patrona Bavariae, entrusting ‘my’ city and homeland to her protection.”

“Today I am here again – this time as the Successor of Peter.”

The Pope greeted Stoiber, Wetter, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as the other leaders and officials present. He also offered particular welcome to the many priests of the archdiocese, gathered in the square.

The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger then turned to the crowds of faithful present. “I greet all of you with great love, my dear compatriots and friends, who have gathered in this square to demonstrate your affection! I thank you for your warm welcome, and I think in particular of all those who have worked to prepare for this meeting and the whole of my journey.”

The Pope then assured the people, who were once part of his archdiocesan flock, that he remains with them now that he is Shepherd of the Universal Church.

Benedict explained the important role that Saint Corbinian, the historic bishop of the region has played in his life. “From my childhood, I was very much taken with the story that a bear had attacked and killed the horse which the saint was riding on a journey to Rome,” the Pope recounted.

“According to the legend, the saint punished the bear by putting on his back the load that the horse had been carrying. So the bear had to carry this load across the Alps all the way to Rome, and only there did the saint set him free.

“In 1977, when I had to face the difficult choice whether or not to accept my appointment as Archbishop of Munich and Freising, knowing that it would take me away from my beloved work at the university, this bear with its heavy burden reminded me of Saint Augustine’s interpretation of verses 22 and 23 of Psalm 73.”

Augustine, he said, spoke of the Psalms words, “I was foolish and did not understand, standing before you like a dumb animal. Nevertheless I am continually with you.”

He, like Augustine, saw in the word, ‘animal’ as a "reference to the beasts of burden used by farmers to work the land,” and the burden of episcopal ministry.

Benedict recalled how he, like Augustine, left a life of scholarship to take on the burden of the episcopacy, but found enlightenment and consolation in the image of the “beast of burden…for just as the beast of burden is closest to the farmer and, under his direction, carries out the burdensome work entrusted to him, so the Bishop is very close to God, because he carries out an important service for his Kingdom.”

“With these words of the Bishop of Hippo in mind, I have found in Saint Corbinian’s bear a constant encouragement to carry out my ministry with confidence and joy – thirty years ago, and again now in my new task – and to say my daily ‘yes’ to God.”

“I have become for you a beast of burden, but as such ‘I am always with you’ (Ps 73:23).”

Benedict noted that unlike St. Corbinian’s bear (which is represented in his Pontifical coat of arms) he was not set free in Rome, but kept in service. “And so,” he said, “I find myself once more at the foot of the Mariensäule, imploring the intercession and blessing of the Mother of God, this time not only for the city of Munich and for Bavaria, but for the universal Church and for all people of good will.”

Following a hymn by the Cathedral Choir of Munich, the Holy Father offered the following prayer to Mary:

"Holy Mother of the Lord!

"Our ancestors, at a time of trouble, set up your statue here, in the very heart of Munich,
and entrusted the city and country to your care. They wanted to meet you again and again
along the paths of their daily life, and to learn from you the right way to live, to find God
and to live in harmony.

"They gave you a crown and a scepter, which at that time were symbols of dominion over the country,
because they knew that power and dominion would then be in good hands - in the hands of a Mother.

"Your Son, just before his farewell to his disciples, said to them: "Whoever wishes to become
great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave
of all" (Mk 10:43-44).

"At the decisive hour in your own life, you said: "Here I am, the servant of the Lord" (Lk 1:38).
You lived your whole life as service. And you continue to do so throughout history.

"At Cana, you silently and discreetly interceded for the spouses, and so you continue
to do. You take upon yourself people’s needs and concerns, and you bring them before the Lord,
before your Son. Your power is goodness. Your power is service.

"Teach us - great and small alike - to carry out our responsibilities in the same way.
Help us to find the strength to offer reconciliation and forgiveness. Help us to become
patient and humble, but also free and courageous, just as you were at the hour of the Cross.

"In your arms you hold Jesus, the Child who blesses, the Child who is also the Lord of the world.
By holding the Child who blesses, you have yourself become a blessing.

"Bless us, this city and this country! Show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb!
Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen!"

The Pontiff then sang along with Bavarian hymns and returned to his Popemobile, the glowing smile never leaving his face.

This evening the Pope will visit with various federal and regional officials at the Royal Palace of Munich. The Pontiff will spend the night at the Archbishop’s residence and rest for Sunday’s events, which will include a large public Mass and Vespers at the Cathedral of Munich.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/09/2006 17.30]

Zoink!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Am I the only one? Stuncissimo!
Phew! That's better!
Well, I'm pleased to see that my gift arrived safely before Papa left Rome. I am referring to his new pectoral cross, of course.Oh -you thought Gloria had sent it to him? No, it was ME, on behalf of all those who love him most - i.e. the members of this forum..................
Dreaming! Dreaming!.........
How lovely that he knew the moment when his zuchetto was about to blow off - and stopped it. Held it in his hand for a few moments and then must have given it to lil Georg - as he was then seen holding it. But, what ABOUT HIS HAIR!!!!!!!!!!
I was sitting there mumbling: "The girls are going to go mad, mad about this!" Nan, Bood, Jil....or are you still in the Recovery Unit?

The ceremony at Marienplatz was something else! Did you see the tears in his eyes and I'm sure one spilt out of his left eye and tumbled down his cheek. Those Bavarian hymns really got him in the heart. He's very happy, very emotional!
I can't wait for tomorrow!
Love and Peace - Mary x

---

Nan, Bood, Jil....or are you still in the Recovery Unit?

---

I'm still recovering. I watched the whole thing while also watching the 3week old daughter of 1 of my neighbors... she was getting kind of fussy but when Papa spoke... ohhhhhhhhhhhhh her little eyes were wide open and she stopped fussing and seemed to listen to his words. She has all the makings of a true Benaddict!!!
Yes Mary, I do believe there were tears... and what a turn out... I was soooo happy for him!

The wind will not let him alone, it seems. In Cologne, in Warsaw,
just a litte in Valencia, and now Munich. Where's the wind here?
Look at the way his capelet is all tangled up! But he's learned by now,
and takes off the zucchetto before it blows off. ('Holy Spirit! Let me
take this off...') With such a wind, his recently-barbered hair
showed off to advantage.







---------------------------------------------------------------
About what we have seen so far - PAPINO IS ALWAYS STUNCHISSIMO! But today, the joy
of homecoming gave him an added glow, of course.

And it is a special pleasure to hear him speak his native tongue, and to know we will
be hearing lots of it in the next four days! German glides off our Goldmund's lips so fluently
I think he can say twice as much in German in the time it takes him to say the equivalent in
Italian or any other language...And so, he didn't skip a beat when the wind blew off the page
he was reading at the airport...

It was so heartwarming to see him sing along with the Bavarian hymn and then the prayer hymns
later, following the words if he had to on the hymnal booklet everyone had.

EWTN ran a short docu with Brother Georg after the Mariensauele ceremony, and it had a sequence
where that lovely photo of the boy Joseph at age 6 was juxtaposed with Pope Joseph, 78,
as the Pallio was being imposed on him for the first time on 4/25/05. It was the perfect visual
match I have long been seeking.

I believe Papino wore trousers today under his cassock instead of the usual Papal leggings -
and a good thing he did because the sun shone right through his cassock most of the time!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/09/2006 22.42]

!!!!!

Thanks for all the coverage gals!!! This really helps for one who doesn't have EWTN, or a DSL internet connection. Thanks for posting the card from Clare Mary, I'm glad she's having fun.

Nan, Jil, Mary, I'm still in the recovery unit!!!!!!!!

---

the ceremony at Marienplatz was something else! Did you see the tears in his eyes

---

No, Mary you are not the only one who is stuncissima - I thought I was the only one. Warm welcome in Munich, papal weather, so many people Papa had to greet but still he seemed to enjoy every minute of his first hours in Bavaria.
Yes, I saw the tears in his eyes (you should have seen mine!)

Most touching moments for me were when all the bells were ringing, when they played the Bavarian hymne and the song:

Weißt du, wieviel Sternlein stehen an dem blauen Himmelszelt ?
Weißt du, wieviel Wolken gehen weit hinüber alle Welt ?
Gott, der Herr, hat sie gezählet, daß ihm auch nicht eines fehlet
an der ganzen großen Zahl, an der ganzen großen Zahl.

Weißt du, wieviel Mücklein spielen in der heißen Sonnenglut,
wieviel Fischlein auch sich kühlen in der hellen Wasserflut ?
Gott, der Herr, rief sie beim Namen, daß sie all ins Leben kamen,
daß sie nun so fröhlich sind, daß sie nun so fröhlich sind.

Weißt du, wieviel Kindlein frühe stehn aus ihren Betten auf,
daß sie ohne Sorg und Mühe fröhlich sind im Tageslauf ?
Gott im Himmel hat an allen seine Lust, sein Wohlgefallen,
kennt auch dich und hat dich lieb, kennt auch dich und hat dich lieb.

By the way, do your TV stations show the visit completely?