Father Christopher Zugger

His Holiness returned to his homeland, starting in the capital city of Berlin.  The Federal German government returned to Berlin only a few years ago, and the former Reichstag building is now the Bundestag, or federal parliament. The chamber is covered by a great glass dome, meant to emphasize the need for open and transparent government – hmm, that is something New Mexico could use actually.

Anyway — the Left Opposition boycotted the Pope’s speech on the grounds that he is a religious figure, only to have the Greens thoroughly embarrassed when the pope emphasized that ecology must be dealt with properly and that its voice speaks to our needs as modern man. The Bundestag gave him a  round of applause for that; the former Communist part of Germany, the east, is terribly polluted as the Communists emphasized industry at all costs.  The great forests have been killed off and lakes and rivers soiled. So he spoke to a real need in Germany.

And he called on the legislators to remember the Christian roots of European laws and practices – positivist scientific world view that is so popular is also seriously lacking true values.

so far it is Pope 1, Protestors 0 – only 10,000 anti-pope demonstrators went to the busy Potsdamer Platz but 70,000 Berliners filled the old Olympic stadium for Mass.  You can read more in English at Deutsche Welle http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15409800,00.html

So, the German slogan “Wir sind Papst” (We are the pope) seems to still hold true after Day 1.