Cardinal Marx: Mourning pastoral as a key to a civilized society

Cardinal Marx: Mourning pastoral as a key to a civilized society

München, Deutschland - Cardinal Reinhard Marx announced an urgent message about dealing with death on the Allersonelentag in Munich! In a moving speech in the Munich Liebfrauendom, he emphasized the immense importance of the mourning pastoral for our society. "The level of a civilization is in the end of dealing with dying and death," said Archbishop of Munich and Freising. During a requiem for the late bishops and archbishops of the Old Diocese of Freising and the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising on November 2, it was made clear that dealing with grief and loss is one of the central pastoral tasks.

In his speech, Cardinal Marx emphasized the newly opened mourning pastoral center at the Munich Ostfriedhof. "It is about finding new ways not to displace death, but to integrate it into our lives," he said. He wishes that this center will become a place where people can open their grief openly. "We have to strengthen the culture of mourning, comforting and farewell," he said, and appealed to the parishes not only to consider the deceased as a family of the family, but as part of the entire community. "We are the relatives," emphasized Marx, stating that we celebrate a requiem for all recently deceased, to show that we are a civilization that deals with death and dying - in hope and solidarity.

The roots of the all -soul day

The day of the deceased, Aller souls, has a long tradition and was introduced in the tenth century. Abbot Odilo from Cluny ordered the memory of all deceased to commit on November 2, and this practice was taken over by the Western Church. Cardinal Marx calls up not to ignore the grief, but to accept and shape it as part of life. "We are pilgrims of hope in the middle of this world," said his urgent call - especially in times of farewell.