Mourning
Even Card. Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, joins in the mourning of the Catholic Church in Germany and the whole German nation for the death of Card. Karl Lehmann, who died in Mainz, at 4.45, on Sunday, 11 March. The cardinal remembered him as a “weighty figure in the post-war German Church”. “The widespread esteem and appreciation which Lehmann received from the world of politics, from public opinion and also from the Church are an impressive testimony to his human and Christian greatness”, Cardinal Schönborn said. According to the Archbishop of Vienna, Card. Lehmann was a “Catholic of the centre”, because, “in a personal and exemplary way”, he was able to keep in balance the tensions between a “conservative Catholic identity” and a “Church open to dialogue”. In an interview with Kathpress news agency, Card. Schönborn remembered him referring to the theological and pastoral debates that arose in the years following the Second Vatican Council (1962-65): in them, Card. Lehmann was able to “preserve the Catholic centre without losing profile”. Finally, Card. Schönborn said he was always impressed by Card. Lehmann’s “incredible energy at work” and by his “almost endless culture”.
