Benedict XVI, the German head of the Roman Catholic Church, has begun his first official visit to his home country as Pope.
At Germany's parliament he received a long round of applause from MPs - though some boycotted the event.
After arriving in Berlin, he called on Catholics disgusted by priestly abuse of children not to abandon the Church.
The visit may be one of his most difficult to date, with strong protests expected against his teachings.
As well as addressing parliament, he will say Mass in Berlin's Olympic Stadium.
The 84-year-old pontiff will travel widely across the country, where there are officially 25 million Catholics - one in three of the population.
He has visited Germany unofficially several times since assuming the Church's highest office, travelling to Catholic strongholds in the Rhineland and his native Bavaria.
However, this tour will take him into historically Protestant regions and parts of the atheistic old East Germany.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, daughter of a Lutheran pastor who grew up in East Germany, said Christian unity would be a focus of the Pope's visit.
In Erfurt on Friday, Pope Benedict will meet members of Germany's Lutheran Church in the monastery where Luther studied as a monk in the early 16th Century, before breaking with Rome and launching the Protestant Reformation.
'Bad fish'A record 181,000 German Catholics officially quit the Church last year, a total for the first time higher than that for Protestants leaving their churches, Reuters news agency reports.
Disgust at the Church's handling of child sex abuse by clergy was one factor.
"I can understand that in the face of such reports, people, especially those close to victims, would say 'this isn't my Church any more'," the Pope said in an interview on his plane before arriving.
But he added: "The Church is a net of the Lord that pulls in good fish and bad fish.
"We have to learn to live with the scandals and work against the scandals from inside the great net of the Church."
Child abuse survivors are expected to join protests against the papal visit.
BoycottAfter being greeted at Berlin's Tegel airport by an artillery salute and a guard of honour, the pontiff was welcomed by Mrs Merkel and President Christian Wulff.
Visiting Mr Wulff's residence in the city, Pope Benedict said: "I am not here first and foremost... to follow particular political, or economic, aims but to meet the people and to speak to them about God."
Anti-Pope protesters handed out condoms at Berlin's Tegel airportCampaigners have taken issue with the Catholic stance on homosexuality and contraception, and a number of MPs boycotted the Pope's visit to parliament, the Bundestag, on Thursday.
German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, a Protestant, criticised the boycott, accusing MPs of "arrogance, narrow-mindedness and provincialism".
Berlin's openly gay mayor, Klaus Wowereit, said he welcomed the Pope's visit and would meet him personally, but he also expressed understanding for the protesters.
Correspondents note that both Mr Wowereit and President Wulff, who is divorced and remarried, are Catholics who in the eyes of the Church lead sinful lifestyles.
Mr Wulff referred to German Catholics alienated by the Church when he spoke during Thursday's papal visit.
"Many ask themselves how mercifully it treats people who have suffered break-ups in their own lives," the divorced president said.
He said it was "important for the Church to remain close to the people and not to turn inward on itself".
One of the highlights of the visit is a Mass to be held on Thursday evening at the Olympic Stadium.
The stadium, where Hitler hosted the 1936 games, is now a popular sporting and entertainment venue, and some 70,000 people are expected to attend the Mass.
Other events during the tour include a meeting with former Chancellor Helmut Kohl and a visit to the strongly Catholic city of Freiburg in the south-west.
No comments:
Post a Comment