Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) – The Hessian Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) has the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died on New Year’s Eve. recognized as a brilliant theologian. “I can still well remember how, in 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the first pope to be elected after almost five centuries who came from Germany. The feeling of many Catholics at the time brought the headline “We are Pope”. very well to the point,” said Rhein on Saturday in Wiesbaden.
Pope Benedict XVI also in 2005 with his visit to the World Youth Day in Cologne “created a sense of unity that included people who were not members of the Catholic Church”. It is thanks to his special commitment that the connection between church and faith was anchored more firmly again. Not least because of his voluntary resignation from the office of Pope, Benedict will be remembered “as a key historical figure” – “even if he could have done more energetic research into the abuse in the Catholic Church”.
