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Pope's resignation stuns native Germany

Monday - 2/11/2013, 2:08pm  ET

Georg Ratzinger, brother of Pope Benedict XVI , sits in his house in Regensburg, southern Germany, Monday Feb. 11, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI said Monday he lacks the strength to fulfill his duties and on Feb. 28 will become the first pontiff in 600 years to resign. The announcement sets the stage for a conclave in March to elect a new leader for world's 1 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/dpa, Armin Weigel)

Associated Press


Chancellor Angela Merkel, a Protestant, said that the 85-year-old pope's decision that he was no longer fit enough to continue in the job "earns my very highest respect."





Two old acquaintances of Benedict, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, from his time at Germany's University of Tuebingen, said they first thought the news was a joke.

"I didn't expect it, but it was something I wouldn't have put past him," Max Seckler, a retired theology professor who worked with Ratzinger at Tuebingen in the 1960s, said in a telephone interview. "He was in many aspects of his papacy very innovative and unconventional."

Seckler highlighted Benedict's ability to form "a real friendship" with Jewish leaders and said that "he invigorated dialogue with Islam in a credible manner."

He also highlighted the pontiff's "patience" in seeking reconciliation with the ultraconservative Society of St. Pius X. That's an issue that drew criticism in Germany, and even a public demand for clarification from Merkel, when he removed the excommunication of a traditionalist British bishop who had denied the Holocaust.

"He tried to present faith positively -- his writings as pope served that -- and he tried to foster reconciliation toward the right," said Dietmar Mieth, a professor emeritus of theology at Tuebingen who first met Ratzinger in the 1960s. "But otherwise, he reacted reservedly to changes or reforms, and in ecumenism there were rather symbolic actions than concessions of substance."

Hans Kueng, a theologian who was an early colleague and friend of Ratzinger but later fell afoul of the Vatican for challenging church doctrine and became a vocal critic, told news agency dpa that he respected Benedict's decision -- "but it has to be hoped that Ratzinger will not exert influence on the election of his successor."



"The papacy of Pope Benedict XVI was a missed opportunity," said Volker Beck, an openly gay lawmaker with the opposition Greens. "Under him, the church in some cases fell back behind the innovations of the Second Vatican Council," the 1962-65 meetings that brought the Catholic Church into the modern world.

Still, the pope commanded pride in Germany -- particularly in his native Bavaria, where Gov. Horst Seehofer said: "Germany and Bavaria have an infinite amount to thank him for."

Even Germany's leading soccer authority weighed in -- Franz Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup both as player and coach.

"It's a pity for the Catholic church," Beckenbauer wrote on Twitter. "He was the best pope for me, which I experienced. I appreciate him very much."


David Rising contributed to this story.
