MUNICH, Germany — The sense of eager anticipation was palpable Sept. 10 as the popemobile slowly rolled down Ludwigstrasse, the street leading to Marienplatz, Munich’s main square.

Since early that morning, pilgrims from all over Bavaria had begun filling the center of the city, enthusiastically waiting to give their favorite son a hero’s welcome. Now, after months of preparation, the moment had arrived: A few minutes earlier than planned, the Pope’s motorcade slowly turned the corner into the square and the massed pilgrims erupted with cheers, whoops and the now ubiquitous chant of “Ben-e-det-to!”

The bells of Munich’s many churches rang out across the city.

Pope Benedict XVI, characteristically reserved yet clearly moved, climbed the podium in front of the Mariensäule, a column and gold statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the patroness of Bavaria. There, children presented him with flowers while the huge throng roared its welcome.

Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s successor as Archbishop of Munich, welcomed the Pope and wiped tears from his eyes as the Pope spoke of how “deeply moving” it was to again stand at the foot of the Mariensäule — a place where he last prayed on being appointed cardinal prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Bavarian Heartbeat

Edmund Stoiber, the president of Bavaria, spoke of Bavarians’ “deep emotion, great happiness and gratitude” for the historic visit. “My heart beats Bavarian,” the Pope had said on the plane coming over.

Benedict focused on three areas — faith, home and family — in his remarks during the first day of this five-day Bavarian trip.

During Vespers in the Frauenkirche, Munich’s cathedral, he asked parents to accompany their children to Communion and to pray as a family at home.

“Sunday becomes more beautiful, the whole week becomes more beautiful, when you go to Sunday Mass together,” he said. “Prayer brings us not only nearer to God but also nearer to one another — it is a powerful source of peace and joy.”

But the Holy Father’s most powerful homily was delivered at an open-air Mass on the outskirts of Munich earlier in the day. Referring to the morning’s Gospel reading from Mark about the man born deaf and mute who Jesus healed, Benedict noted mankind’s spiritual deafness with respect to God.

“What is said about God strikes us as pre-scientific, no longer suited to our age,” he told a capacity crowd of 250,000 pilgrims, many of whom had arrived in the early morning. “Along with this hardness of hearing or outright deafness where God is concerned, we naturally lose our ability to speak with him and to him. And so we end up losing a decisive capacity for perception.”

The effects of this deafness, the Pope said, are visible in the German Church. Although it has been “outstanding in its social activities,” in its aid to developing countries, the Holy Father said, African bishops who have spoken with him recently have reported the Church in Germany is less enthusiastic when it comes to funding evangelization projects.

Said Pope Benedict, “People in Africa and Asia admire our scientific and technical prowess, but at the same time they are frightened by a form of rationality that totally excludes God from man’s vision, as if this were the highest form of reason, and one to be imposed on their cultures too.”

To overcome deafness to God, Benedict emphasized the importance of rediscovering prayer.

The Pope arrived half an hour before the Mass so he could be driven around the gigantic grounds in the popemobile. At 9.45, the Benedict Bell, given to the Pope by the town of Traunstein and which he later donated to the local diocesan seminary, began to chime.

Long before Mass began, the field was bursting with pilgrims. Many had come from other European nations and chanted “Ben-e-det-to,” while locals sang a popular song, “The Pope Is From Bavaria and So Are We!”

Hundreds of German, Bavarian and Vatican flags swayed under blue skies.

“This is Germany, and we’re not used to flag waving!” joked one bystander. “It only started in the World Cup.”

Participants said that Benedict’s homecoming was already having an effect on his countrymen’s faith.

“I am very surprised by how moved the crowd was and how many had come to the Mass,” said Father Thomas Brei, a diocesan priest in Munich.

“Through the election of this Pope, it’s true to say there’s been a great interest in religion, the Church and the Pope,” said Cardinal Wetter. “But it’s important that this interest is deepened, that it makes a profound impression. It mustn’t be the case that one day we celebrate the Eucharist and the next day it’s all forgotten.”

For Raphaela Schmid, the Rome director of the Becket Institute who was born and raised in Munich, Benedict’s witness has already been immensely strong — especially for Bavarians.

“If you convert to Catholicism here, people have tended to think you’ve lost your mind, that it’s rather sad and pathetic, but that’s all to do with so-called ‘Enlightenment thinking,’” she explained. “But others are seeing that here is a Pope who’s internationally recognized for his intellectual abilities. … He’s showing in his own way that it’s not just about faith but reason as well, and that’s a huge advance.”

Others have commented on what Germans call the “Pope effect.”

“It’s a very beautiful thing for people who are far away to come back, open themselves up to what he says and read what he writes,” said Legionary Father Paul Habsburg, who has met several Bavarians who have returned to Catholicism since the Pope’s election. “He’s not a Pope who says you have to do this or that, but speaks about things people can accept, and from there he tries to lead people as far as they can go,” he said.

Father Habsburg, a native of Munich who now serves in Cologne, was himself guided towards his vocation by the Holy Father when he was archbishop of Munich.

“I first met him when I was 10 years old,” he recalled. “His humble and serving ways were and still are extremely inspiring for young people.”

Gratitude

Ahead of his visit, some media commentators speculated that this will be Benedict’s only trip to Bavaria as Pope. On the plane to Munich, Benedict sidestepped that question while expressing gratitude for having the opportunity for at least one visit home.

“I am an old man,” said the Holy Father. “I don’t know how much time the Lord will grant me. ... At least one more time, I am getting to see my homeland.”

Edward Pentin filed this report

from Munich, Germany.

Going Home 

Here is a brief summary of Pope Benedict’s itinerary from his recent trip to his native Germany:

Sept. 9

Munich

Prayer at Marienplatz, the city’s old central square dedicated to Mary; visit with German President Horst Köhler.

Sept. 10

Munich

Sunday Mass in Marienplatz; vespers in the cathedral.

Sept. 11

Altötting, Marktl am Inn Mass and dedication of new Eucharistic adoration chapel; visit to the church where he was baptized.

Sept. 12

Regensburg

Outdoor Mass; meeting with scientists at the university where he taught theology; vespers in the cathedral.

Sept. 13

Regensburg

Private Mass at the seminary with his brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger; trip to the family burial places.

Sept. 14

Freising

Meeting with Bavarian  priest and permanent deacons at the cathedral of Sts. Mary and Corbinian.