Today he dwelt upon some of the trip’s highlights starting with his address to the German parliament, the Bundestag, on the first day of his visit.
He said he had wanted to use the address to “expose the foundation of law and free State of law” and so to help civil society to “broaden our concept of nature, understanding it not only as a set of functions but beyond this as the language of the Creator to help us discern right from wrong.” In short, said the Pope quoting the 19th century German Bishop Wilhelm von Ketteler, “Just as religion requires freedom, freedom also needs religion.”
The German media had predicted that the papal parliamentary address would be subject to protest and boycott. In the end, both largely failed to materialize and the Pope’s remarks were well received by German civil society.
While in Berlin, the Pope met with leaders of the Jewish community with whom he had remembered Christianity’s “common roots in faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” He also fondly recalled his meeting with Muslim leaders and their discussion of “the importance of religious freedom for the peaceful development of humanity.”
The Pope said he had also used his visit to reach out to protestant Christians. In fact, on the second and third days of his trip he visited Erfurt in eastern Germany. It was here in the 16th century that the founder of the Reformation, Martin Luther, had lived and taught.
The Pope said his meeting with Lutheran leaders had been “cordial” and that it led them “more profoundly to Christ.” It reminded them all, he said, of “the importance of our common witness of faith in Jesus Christ in today’s world, which often ignores God or has no interest in Him.”