Pope heads to German monastery, meets Lutherans

[September 23, 2011]  ERFURT, Germany (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI traveled Friday to the eastern city of Erfurt to hold a joint service with Germany's Protestant churches in a chapel where Martin Luther once prayed before launching his schismatic protest against Rome.

The pontiff started the day in Berlin with a private Mass and meetings with leaders from Germany's Muslim community. He met with Jewish leaders on Thursday, before celebrating a Mass in Berlin that attracted some 70,000 faithful from across the nation.

In the closed-door meeting, Benedict told more than a dozen Muslim leaders that he understood the "great importance" Muslims placed on the religious dimension of life and emphasized the importance of values shared by both the religions in an increasingly secularized society.

Aiman Mazyek, the chairman of Germany's Central Council of Muslims, said he welcomed Benedict's message of increased Muslim-Christian dialogue as an "important and friendly sign."

In a speech to Germany's parliament Thursday from Berlin's historic Reichstag parliament building, Benedict warned politicians not to sacrifice ethics for power, evoking the Nazi excesses of his homeland as a lesson in history.

The pope will concentrate Friday on issues of Germany's divided past, both spiritual and political.

In Erfurt's Augustine monastery, where Luther lived as a monk before his protest against the Roman Catholic Church in 1517, the pope will meet members of the Lutheran church. Luther, also a professor of theology, was excommunicated by the pope for disputing church tenets and sparked the Protestant Reformation that led to the creation of the Lutheran church. The split among German Christians remains a point of dispute to this day.

From there, Benedict travels to a small chapel nestled deep in the former East Germany, where he will honor those Catholics who helped resist communist rule.

Police in Erfurt's historic center blocked off streets and set up barricades around the Cathedral square where the pope will celebrate Mass on Saturday.

Still, for many Germans, the Vatican's views on contraception, the role of women in the church and homosexuality are seen as outdated. Its handling of the sexual abuse scandal that rocked Germany last year has also been sharply criticized.

About 9,000 people protested in downtown Berlin on Thursday and more protests were planned in Erfurt.

[Associated Press; By MELISSA EDDY]

David Rising contributed to this story from Berlin

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