Many condolences for Benedict XVI. also from Hamburg

The Archbishop of Hamburg Stefan Hesse has the deceased Pope Benedict XVI. honored as a "formative teacher and theologian". As a professor, bishop, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as pope and even after his resignation as pope, he helped shape and shape theology and the church for six decades. "One thought of Pope Benedict has a special effect on me: being Christ is not a theory, not a construct of thought, but first an encounter with a person, with Jesus Christ," said Hess on Saturday.

He had special respect for Benedikt's resignation. "He knew how to realistically assess his dwindling strength and had to let go of the greatness." In addition to his theology and his "terrific ability for free speech", he will probably go down in history with this freely chosen resignation, according to Hesse.

Benedict XVI died on Saturday morning, according to the Vatican. Benedikt, whose real name was Joseph Ratzinger, was 95 years old. He was the head of the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013. After eight years as pontiff, Benedict XVI resigned. In 2013 he surprisingly accepted the papal office and from then on lived a secluded life in the Vatican.

The regional bishop of the Evangelical North Church, Kristina Kühnbaum-Schmidt, has the Catholics in the North after the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. offered her condolences. "My thoughts are with everyone who died around the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. mourn, especially among our Catholic brothers and sisters in the archbishoprics of Hamburg and Berlin,” said Kühnbaum-Schmidt on Saturday in Schwerin. All of you have my sympathy and prayers.

Hamburg's mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) has found the deceased pope emeritus out of his current role as President of the Federal Council and recognized him as one of the soon-to-be theologians of his time. The mayor of Hamburg explained on Saturday that he represented the traditions of the Catholic Church with great conviction and at the same time conducted a dialogue with representatives of the Protestant Church, Judaism and Islam. "Like his election as the first German Pope of modern times and his retirement from official offices in 2013, his death also moved the faithful in Germany and his Bavarian homeland in a special way."