The Vatican publishes Pope Benedict XVI's schedule for his forthcoming visit to Germany. Will this prophet be accepted in his own land?

Yesterday, the Holy See published details of Pope Benedict XVI's planned trip to Germany in two months' time. The Pope will visit his homeland from 22 - 25 September, beginning his journey in Berlin and ending it at Lahr airport, from where he will fly back to Rome. Already, many of his fellow countrymen have announced their plans to protest against both Pope Benedict XVI and his message. On the other hand, all the venues that will host the Pope during his time in Germany are all ready "fully booked".

Here is a summary of Pope Benedict XVI's schedule for his forthcoming visit to Germany: -

Thursday 22 September: At 10:30 am Pope Benedict will arrive at Berlin-Tegel airport. A welcome ceremony will the follow at Bellevue Castle - official residence of Christian Wulff, President of the Federal Republic of Germany. Herr Wulff is the first Catholic President of Germany in over 40 years.

Afterwards the Holy Father will visit the headquarters of the German Episcopal Conference in Berlin, where he will meet the Germany's Federal Chancellor, Angela Merkel. Following this meeting, Pope Benedict XVI will visit the German Bundestag and will also meet representatives of Germany's Jewish community.

At 6:30pm the Pope will celebrate Mass at the controversial Berlin Olympic Stadium.

Friday 23 September: At 9:00am the Holy Father will meet with representatives of the Muslim community at the Apostolic Nunciature in Berlin.

Later on that day, Pope Benedict XVI will travel to Erfurt where he will visit St. Mary's Cathedral, address representatives of the German Evangelical Church Council and participate in an ecumenical service.

At 5:45pm, after travelling by helicopter to Etzelsbach, the Pope will preside at Marian Vespers at the Wallfahrtskapelle (right), which is a popular place of pilgrimage in Germany. Following this celebration the Holy Father will return to Erfurt.

Saturday 24 September: Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass at Erfurt's Domplatz before flying to the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, where he will visit the ancient cathedral. During the afternoon he will go to the local seminary to meet with Helmut Kohl, former Chancellor of Germany, then with representatives from the Orthodox Churches, followed by the seminarians themselves and finally the Central Committee of German Catholics.

At 7:00 pm the Pope is scheduled to preside at a prayer vigil with young people at the Fair of Freiburg im Breisgau.

Sunday 25 September: At 10:00am, the Pope will celebrate Mass and pray the Angelus at Freiburg im Breisgau's airport.

Following Sunday Mass the Holy Father will have lunch with members of the German Episcopal Conference. At 4:20 pm he will meet with magistrates of the Federal Constitutional Court, followed by a group of Catholics active in the Church and society.

Following the departure ceremony at the airport of Lahr, the papal plane will depart for Rome where it is expected to land at Ciampino airport just before 9:00pm.

It seems that there might be some details which have been omitted from this official schedule. For example, it had been expected that the Holy Father would give a lecture at a Berlin university. It may be, though, that these plans were changed at the last minute.

It is well known that Jesus famously said that a "prophet is never accepted in his own country" (cf Luke 4:24). Sadly, this saying might ring true for Pope Benedict XVI as he visits his native Germany. Already, many German secularists, homosexual campaigners and anti-life activists, as well as Church liberals, have vowed to protest against his visit.

The very same kind of people tried their best to stop or disrupt the Papal visit to the UK last year. Their tactics failed, mainly thanks to the fact that rational people eventually saw through the hysteria that surrounded the anti-Catholic "Protest the Pope" campaign. It also helped that so many Christians prayed for the success of Pope Benedict XVI's visit. My advice to German Catholics, then, is: pray, pray and pray some more! Never be afraid, even when the Church's enemies seem to be gaining support - for Our Lord also said that the gates of Hell will not prevail against his Church (cf Mt 16:18)!

[Images: Top: Pope Benedict XVI; this image has been released into the public domain by its author, Tadeusz Górny; source: Wikimedia Commons. Bottom: The Wallfahrtskapelle at Etzelsbach; this work is attributed to Pilettes and is published under a creative commons licence; source: Wikimedia Commons]