- Title: Chief German Bishop signs Benedict condolences book in Berlin
- Date: 2nd January 2023
- Summary: PHOTO OF BENEDICT
- Embargoed: 16th January 2023 10:22
- Keywords: Georg Baetzing Pope Benedict condolences Berlin
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Europe,Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA004990302012023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Germany's top Bishop on Monday (January 2) was in the German capital to sign the book of condolences to former Pope Benedict XVI.
Georg Baetzing said he was moved by the tributes pouring in and said he was impressed by the amount of interest from the public.
Speaking at the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Berlin, Baetzing said he hoped Benedict would find his eternal home.
"The mortal shell is only the part that stays here and hopes for resurrection, but the person, the bishop, the priest, the Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger lives with God and this is my hope: that he has found his eternal home in the goodness and mercy of God whom he served his whole life," he said.
German politicians and church leaders have mourned the death of the Pope Emeritus who died on Saturday (December 31), hailing his importance to his homeland as Germany's first pontiff in 1,000 years.
Benedict, who died aged 95, resigned in 2013, the first pontiff in 600 years to do so.
Explaining the shock decision, Benedict said he was too old and frail to lead the Roman Catholic Church and its more than 1.3 billion members.
Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger on April 16, 1927, in the Bavarian village of Marktl, Benedict became a priest in 1951 and succeeded Pope John Paul II following his death in 2005.
During his eight-year papacy, Benedict, a methodical, shy and very private German, had a hard time filling the shoes of the charismatic John Paul, inviting constant comparison in the media and among the faithful of the 1.3 billion member Church.
Child abuse scandals hounded most of his papacy but he is credited with jump-starting the process to discipline or defrock predator priests after a more lax attitude under John Paul II.
Benedict will lie in state until Wednesday.
His funeral will be held on Thursday in St Peter's Square and be presided over by Pope Francis.
The Vatican has said it will be a simple, solemn and sober ceremony in keeping with his wishes.
There were no signs in the Vatican of the huge crowds who came to pay their respects to Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, following his death in 2005.
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