When a nuncio came to Germany again 70 years ago

Shaking heads at the Vatican: When Pope Pius XII. (1939–58), himself once a nuncio in Germany, 62-year-old American Archbishop Eloise J. Muinch was assigned to this task, relying on a lateral entry into Pope diplomacy. Because the son of German immigrants born in Milwaukee / Wisconsin on February 18, 1889, was in fact the “only” bishop of the Diocese of Fargo in remote North Dakota on the border with Canada. , 0 years ago On 9 March 1951, Muinch, who had already been working in Germany for five years at the time and knew the needs of the people, was appointed by the Pope as an apostolic nuno.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in Europe, General Dwight D. Along with Eisenhower (1890–1969), Vatican diplomats had managed to establish a pope mission in Germany. The aim was to be able to better help the population, the displaced and the “displaced people” – the people who were forcibly made laborers by the Nazis.

Muenk campaigned against “policy of punishment and revenge”

Eisenhower implemented that the head of this mission based in Cronenberg / Tunas had to be an American. The Pope’s choice fell on Moonach, whom he appointed on May 16, 1946, as an “ad interim” apostolic explorer. The US military government in Germany also appointed him as an advisor for religious affairs. The American bishops entrusted him with the task of operating military slippers in the American occupied part of Germany. Because the bishop was the son of German immigrants, he had some problems in contact with the population, and in the period immediately after the war he often visited him for help.

The promotion of Moonach became possible after the Western Allies retreated from Germany’s eventual destruction Morgenthu Plan. He again began to establish state administration to promote the development of the economy. The six-power conference in London in the spring of 1948 paved the way for the establishment of the West German state. General Lucius d. Clay (1897–1978) was also thanked by Mynacht, when he retired in 1949 as military governor occupying American territory in Germany.

Manek had helped to shake the waking American people: “In this way, a profession policy can be brought about that more closely matches our national character than the initial policy of punishment and revenge.” On 23 May 1949, the Basic Law came into force for the Federal Republic of Germany. With the establishment of the GDR in October 1949, a division lasting four decades was sealed.

As complex as the history of the two post-war German states, the beginning of Vatican representation was equally uneventful. On October 21, 1949, the pope appointed Muech as “Regent of the Apostolic Noun in the German Reich”. It was located in Eichstut, where the last Reich Nunigo, Archbishop Cesare Origo (1946), and his staff fled Soviet troops from Berlin in early 1945.

The Holy See clung to Nuncher, who was diplomatically finished at the end of the war, and waited for a while. He indicated that in the event of a waiver of occupation, he wanted to recognize a nuncio for the Federal Republic, but not the GDR. Reactivated nunciature should be responsible for the whole of Germany – as it was until 1945.

Apostolic Nunio “For German People”

On April 4, 1951, Münech presented Confederate President Theodore Huss with his recognition at the Hammerschitid Villa in Bonn. In this, the pope certified him as an “apostolic nuno to the German people”. His official title “Nuntius Apostolicus in German” also conformed to the All-German claim. After Bad moved to Godsburg in June, Münch worked on the Rhine for nearly eight years.

One of his services is that he regulated the continuation of Concord with the West German post-war government. A tour of East Germany, which he declined as a visitor to Cronenberg, was possible for him twice as nuncio: in 1954 he arrived at the GDR for the 1200th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Boniface and 750 in 1957 Death of St. Elizabeth of Thuringia on the anniversary. More than 70,000 people massed on the stairs of Erfurt Cathedral.

Pope John XXIII (1958–63) appointed Muinch as Karia and in December 1959 made him Cardinal. This ended his time in Bonn as nuncio, as well as his episode in Fargo, which he had not left before. Muench died in Rome on 15 February 1962 – three days earlier at the age of 73.