This week Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Franconia and of course he ate sausages in Nuremberg and drank smoked beer in Bamberg, as required by the eternal what-to-do-in-Franconia law. This also provides for the accompaniment of every guest promising a flashlight by the local prime minister, even if this time there was no photo of cozy togetherness behind sausages on tin plates like with Armin Laschet, which should follow him for a while in the dark nights.
Steinmeier also visited Bamberg Cathedral, another Franconian highlight, the archbishop personally introduced the Federal President, so it doesn’t matter that this is a Protestant-Reformed Christian. As the German head of state, Steinmeier should see himself as the successor to Emperor Heinrich, who had the cathedral built, the archbishop explained. The cathedral therefore also belongs to him.
Markus Söder would have liked to hear that – bad insinuation – who is after all the head of the Bavarian Free State and likes to publicly demonstrate his faith. Söder is a Protestant, but still traveled to the Pope and hung up crosses. Bamberg Cathedral would undoubtedly fit well into his portfolio, denomination or not.
In the past, people in Bavaria were almost originally Catholic, unless a Protestant had moved to the family tree. As a rule, you stayed that way, but as a young man, colleague K., for example, was determined to turn his back on the church. In the town hall of his small town, he overcame the urgent admonition of the secretary with his request, what grandma would say about it, and was sent to an office with the completed resignation form. In the city treasury, where he should pay 30 marks and a few tener for the process. He didn’t have that much money with him, so colleague K. didn’t leave after all – and has done so to this day.
The churches will not be able to rely on this strategy, even if the waiting times for resignations are so long in many places that one or the other may reconsider. In any case, the sausages, which are also denominationally shaped in Franconia (Catholic = fine, Protestant = coarse), will also be able to be consumed in the future regardless of whether they are entering or leaving. Just not always in the company of the head of the Free State.