In Bavaria, the turn of the year was very quiet and very loud. It was shaped not only by the death of the Pope and a famous soccer player, but also by the disorientation that is also spreading rapidly in the countryside.
When the news of the death of Pope Benedict XVI. popped up and immediately made the rounds, the dismay of the customers was limited. A handful of men gossiping in a corner were just digesting another annoyance. After all, Pelé died shortly before, a death that touched their hearts even more deeply, because they all used to be footballers. The great Pelé, they complained, a football god!
One of the group told that picture newspaper I wrote the headline “messias”. It must therefore also be remembered that the late pope – when he was still the theologian Joseph Ratzinger – dealt intensively with the question of the Messiah, although he did not mention football at all.
When Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope 17 years ago, the position of the Messiah was still clearly defined, and the village churches in Bavaria were still reasonably full, at least on Sunday. In the villages, the number of churchgoers was as high as afterwards at the district class game on the soccer field. In the meantime there is a frightening emptiness in the village churches, but the ranks on the football field are still well filled.
With the inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI. Bavarian Catholicism seemed to flourish again. In a last upsurge of faith, the good Lord seemed to be a little closer to people than all the ephemeral earthly powers, including the football religion. But it was only a flicker, even on the anniversary of the Pope’s death the old popular Catholicism seemed to have died out.
It used to be said that you shouldn’t hang up your laundry on New Year’s Eve, the poltergeists of the rough nights could get caught in it. Now they seem to have migrated to the Internet. There, particularly malicious figures wished the deceased pope a Happy New Year.
Maybe on New Year’s Eve it got very noisy in some places during the day because evil is always and everywhere at the moment. There was gunfire as if insane, the silence and the warmth gave way to a swelling cannon noise. There hasn’t been such a loud New Year’s Eve for a long time. If the evil spirits are still not all chased away – at least they are dormant (deaf) now.