Pope Benedict calls for German Catholics to unite

POPE Benedict yesterday urged Catholics in Germany to close ranks behind him rather than demand reforms or leave the Church.

Delivering his last major address of a four-day trip at a Mass for about 100,000 people, he said the sometimes fractious Church needed to unite around him and the German bishops.

“The Church in Germany will continue to be a blessing for the entire Catholic world if she remains faithfully united with the successor of St Peter,” he said, referring to himself.

His third trip as Pope to his native country has been his toughest, met by protest over sex abuse scandals and by reform calls from Catholics who view his conservative stand as outdated.

Benedict has closed the door on changes to the Church’s opposition to gay marriage, married clergy or women priests. He has also indicated he will not ease restrictions on divorced Catholics who have remarried outside the Church.

Throughout the trip, he has hammered home his view that the Church cannot change merely to suit the whims of the times.

Polls say many German Catholics disagree. A record 181,000 officially quit the Church this year — for the first time more than joined.

Some worshippers said they were frustrated by Benedict’s opposition to change. “I had hoped he might rally people more to the Church, especially young people,” said Martine Kircher.

“But he didn’t show a path of renewal. Instead he seemed to be rowing back to the old values.”

The fact German Catholics could both call for reforms and still turn out in large numbers for a papal mass “shows the Church in all its ambivalence,” Rev Bernd Hagenkord, head of Vatican Radio’s German service told German TV.