Pope Benedict pays tribute to Bavaria’s patroness

Today, I would like to think back to the various moments of the Pastoral Visit that the Lord granted me to make last week to Bavaria.

In sharing with you my emotions and sentiments on seeing the places dear to me, I feel first of all the need to thank God for having made possible my second Visit to Germany and my first to Bavaria, my native Land. …

My first stop was the City of Munich, known as "the Metropolis with a heart" (Weltstadt mit Herz). In its historical center is the Marienplatz, (Mary's Square), in which the "Mariensäule," the Column of Our Lady, stands with a gilded bronze statue of the Virgin Mary on its summit.

I wanted to begin my stay in Bavaria with a tribute to the Patroness of Bavaria, which, for me, assumes a highly significant value: there, in that square and before that image of Mary, about 30 years ago I was welcomed as Archbishop, and it was there that I began my episcopal mission with a prayer to Mary; there I returned at the end of my mandate before leaving for Rome. This time, I wanted to pause again at the foot of the Mariensäule to implore the intercession and blessing of the Mother of God, not only for the City of Munich and Bavaria, but for the entire Church and the whole world.

Pope Benedict XVI

General Audience, September 20, 2006 (excerpt)