Pope Benedict XVI is to resign on 28 February 2013 Photo: Bundesregierung/Bergmann

"If the Pope himself has decided after due consideration that he no longer has the strength he needs to exercise this office, then he has my utmost respect," said the Chancellor in a statement to the press.

In dialogue with the world

Angela Merkel reminded her audience that Benedict XVI’s flock comprises more than one billion people. The Pope knows, she said, "that the Church needs a dialogue with the world". And the Pope maintained this dialogue: with other churches and with other religions. The Chancellor underscored the fact that Benedict XVI has strengthened relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, and that he has "reached out to both Jews and Muslims".

The Chancellor looked back to her own talks with Benedict XVI, which clearly reflected his "breadth of education", his "feeling for historical contexts" and his "always lively interest in the issues surrounding European unification".

Serving what is right

Angela Merkel remembers very clearly the day in 2011 when the Pope addressed the German Bundestag. In his address Benedict XVI said, "To serve right and to fight against the dominion of wrong is and remains the fundamental task of the politician". These words of the Pope, "will stay with me for a long time to come," stressed the Chancellor.

The Chancellor also recalled the Pope’s visits to Germany. At the World Youth Day in Cologne, and in Berlin, Erfurt and Freiburg, it was the human side of the Pope that reached out to the hearts of believers when he visited Germany.

On 19 April 2005 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope, the first German to be elected to the office for almost 500 years. Since then Benedict XVI has visited his home country twice, once to attend the 2005 World Youth Day in Cologne. In September 2011 he paid Germany an official visit. On 11 February Pope Benedict XVI announced in Rome that he would be resigning on 28 February 2013.