Pope Benedict xvi returned to his Bavarian homeland this past weekend for a six-day pilgrimage. He took the opportunity to address two key issues that are increasingly binding the religion of Rome with the politics of Berlin.

First, Benedict focused his visit on reviving Christianity in his native country, which is split equally between Catholics and Protestants. Second, he addressed the status of Muslim residents in Europe.

The pope’s endeavors reflect a notable commingling of church and state, one that is specifically represented in the ongoing German-Vatican discussion, also resurrected on this visit, regarding Catholicism’s representation in the European Constitution.

Bavaria—Germany’s most religious and most populous state, accounting for a quarter of the nation’s Catholics—gave the pope an enthusiastic welcome September 9. The pope, though concerned with Germany’s secularization and declining church attendance, commented, “German Catholicism is not as tired as some people think.”

He says he aims to revive “Christian” belief in Germany in the face of “secularization” but believes that “German Catholicism is not as tired” (emphasis ours throughout).

So who is “tired,” “secularized” or in need of reviving? Benedict has set at the top of his priority list as pope the reuniting of Catholicism with its wayward Protestant daughters.

That was the theme of his meetings with political leaders Saturday evening. President Horst Köhler “urged the pope to do more to foster ecumenical cooperation” (Reuters, September 9).

As if the pope needed urging. The theme of religious unity, meaning the uniting of Protestants under the umbrella of Catholicism, has been prominent throughout Benedict’s papacy and even back to his days as Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the body of the church formerly known as the Inquisition. The Trumpet expects Catholicism, under Benedict’s reign, to continue to gain ground in its efforts to bring its Orthodox and Protestant daughters back into the Catholic fold, and has reported on this for some time now.

Köhler also mentioned his discussion with the pope about improving Muslim integration in Germany.

Both of these items (Christian unity in Germany, and the status of Muslims—more specifically radical Muslims—in Germany) topped the agenda Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber brought to discuss with the pontiff in his half-hour private meeting with him on September 9. Details about that meeting have not been disclosed.

The pope’s interest in visiting German political leaders reinforces the Vatican’s historic involvement in European policy—a church-state relationship with long and eventful historical roots.

Just before Benedict came to Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel went to Rome to visit the pope and pledged that her presidency of the European Union during the first half of 2007 would be devoted to reviving a mention of Christianity in the EU constitution. This was surely music to papal ears. After all, in his Sunday mass in Munich, he criticized the German Catholic Church for failing to emphasize the business of proselytizing—“saying that while it was always ready to help dioceses in Africa or eastern Europe to rebuild their churches or embark on social projects, it seemed reluctant to seek converts to the faith” (Deutsche Welle, September 10).

The pope emphasized that “evangelization should be foremost” in the efforts of Germany’s bishops (ibid.).

Watch for the pope to increase his efforts for greater Christian unity, for protection against radical Islam and Catholic representation in the politics of Europe. To understand the reasoning behind our expectation that the Catholic Church will take drastic measures to see these goals realized, as it has done historically, see our booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.