Benedict focused his visit first on reviving Christianity in his native country, which is split equally between Catholics and Protestants, and second to address the status of Muslim residents in Europe.
The pope’s endeavours reflect a notable co-mingling of church and state, one that is specifically represented in the ongoing German-Vatican discussion, also resurrected on this visit, regarding Catholicism’s representation in the European Constitution.
Bavaria is Germany’s most religious and most populous state, accounting for a quarter of the nation’s Catholics.
The state gave the pope an enthusiastic welcome September 9 and Pope Benedict, though concerned with Germany’s secularisation and declining church attendance, commented, “German Catholicism is not as tired as some people think."He also expressed his desire to revive “Christian” belief in Germany in the face of “secularisation”.
Benedict has set at the top of his priority list as pope the reuniting of Catholicism with its wayward Protestant daughters.
President Horst Köhler “urged the pope to do more to foster ecumenical cooperation".
Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass before 70,000 people on Monday in the Bavarian pilgrimage town of Altötting and listened to a brief prayer for peace tied to the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
“Five years after the terror attack on the World Trade Center in New York, we ask for peace in the whole world," said a prayer read by a participant while the pope listened and responded with the rest of the congregation "Christ hear us".
