” “Exhibitions, meetings, prayers, sales of fair trade sporting goods and even a "Cafè mundial". The German churches have deployed all their creativity for the World Cup that opened on June 9th and which is the subject of today’s SirEuropa newscast. Germany is celebrating, and the German religious community is no exception, putting in a good dose of healthy cheering as well. As in the case of the Protestant bishop Wolfgang Huber who doesn’t mince his words: "if Germany were to win, my joy would be huge". He is echoed by the President of the German Catholic bishops, Karl Lehmann, who hopes "the national team will go as far as it can", maybe even through to the finals of June 9th, the day the bishop of Erfurt, mgr. Joachim Wanke, decided to keep engagement-free; "just in case he says Germany might be playing". The Bishop of Aachen, mgr. Heinrich Mussinghoff, would like Germany to get through to the finals, but he would be equally happy if "a small, minor team" made it (to be continued).” “
