Pope in the Cathedral

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

"I am pleased to be with you this evening in Cologne, a city that I love for the many memories which it evokes for me.

"For a number of years I lived in the neighbouring city of Bonn as a professor, and from there I would often come to Cologne where I had many friends.

"It was, I am convinced, by a special design of Providence that I soon became a friend of the then Archbishop, Cardinal Joseph Frings, who gave me his full confidence and called me to be his theologian for the Second Vatican Council, which meant that I was able to play an active part in that historic event."

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"The city of Cologne would not be what it is without the Magi, who have had so great an impact on its history, its culture and its faith....


"In honour of the Magi the inhabitants of Cologne produced the most exquisite reliquary of the whole Christian world and, as if that were not sufficient, they raised above it an even greater reliquary, this stupendous Gothic Cathedral which, after the ravages of war, once more stands before visitors in all the splendour of its beauty."

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"Yet Cologne is not just the city of the Magi. It has been deeply marked by the presence of many saints; these holy men and women, through the witness of their lives and the imprint they left on the history of the German people, have helped Europe to grow from Christian roots.

"I think above all of the martyrs of the first centuries, like young Saint Ursula and her companions, who, according to tradition, were martyred under Diocletian. How can one fail to remember Saint Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, whose election as Bishop of Cologne in 745 was confirmed by Pope Zachary?

"The name of Saint Albert the Great is also linked to this city; his body rests nearby in the crypt of the Church of Saint Andrew. In Cologne Saint Thomas Aquinas was a disciple of Saint Albert and later a professor.

"Nor can we forget Blessed Adolph Kolping, who died in Cologne in 1865; from a shoemaker he became a priest and founded many social initiatives, especially in the area of professional training.


"Closer to our own times, our thoughts turn to Edith Stein, the eminent twentieth-century Jewish philosopher who entered the Carmelite Convent in Cologne taking the name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, and later died in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Pope John Paul II canonized her and declared her a co-patroness of Europe, together with Saint Bridget of Sweden and Saint Catherine of Siena.

"In these and all the other saints, both known and unknown, we discover the deepest and truest face of this city and we become aware of the legacy of values handed down to us by the generations of Christians who have gone before us. It is a very rich legacy.

"We need to be worthy of it."

From Pope Benedict XVI's address at the Cathedral of Cologne