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BAVARIA-KUEHNEL Sep-1-2006 (640 words) With photo posted May 18, 2005. xxxi
German banker, friend of pope, surprised at invitation to visit
By Tess Crebbin
Catholic News Service
MUNICH, Germany (CNS) -- A German banker who used to chauffeur Pope Benedict XVI said he has been invited to spend the night in the Regensburg seminary with the pontiff during his Sept. 9-14 trip to Germany.
"I was very surprised and honored when I received a letter stating that I am to stay overnight at Regensburg," Thaddaeus Kuehnel, director of the Hauck and Aufhauser private bank in Munich, told Catholic News Service. "The request came from the Regensburg seminary, by letter."
Kuehnel said he did not know why he received an invitation when so many of the pope's other friends remain uncertain if they will have a chance to meet with him.
"It may have something to do with the fact that our friendship goes back some 30-odd years," Kuehnel said. "Long before he became pope, when he faced controversy at home and abroad, I always spoke out for him, and I think he never forgot this.
"When he took a lot of flak here in Germany because of his conservative stance, I was the one who always stood by him," he added. "I think this bonds us, that we have been together through the good as well as the bad times."
Kuehnel said he never tried to profit from his close relationship with the pontiff.
"The car in which I drove the pope more than 50,000 kilometers (31,000 miles), which was my own, has recently been sold in Russia," Kuehnel said. "I sold it at a normal price, and the people who bought it never knew its history. Had I publicized it, I could have made a lot more money from this car, but that is not my style at all."
Kuehnel said he looks forward to a warm reunion with the pope and is not nervous.
"He may be pope now," he said, "but he is still a friend of mine with whom my relationship goes back many years."
For more than 20 years, Kuehnel has driven Bavarian specialities to the former Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome, and this tradition continues.
"I still drive Advent wreaths to him, and then, at Christmastime, also Bavarian Christmas trees. This is my annual Christmas gift to him," he said. "Also, I take him the Christmas packages of the Zentis company, which makes jams and sweets."
Kuehnel said he will discuss private matters with the pope when they meet at the seminary.
"One of the things that I have never spoken to him about," Kuehnel said, "but may take the opportunity of doing so now, when we see each other at Regensburg, is about Sister Iphigenia of Bad Adelholzen. She used to send the former Cardinal (Joseph) Ratzinger his beloved Adelholzener fruit juices and mineral waters to Rome. On her deathbed, she told me about a vision she had, that he was going to be pope one day. Maybe now is the time to let him know about this."
In his work as a banker, Kuehnel said, he tries to apply his Catholic faith to his daily dealings with people.
"I want to prove that being a practicing Catholic is very much in accordance with success in the business world," he said. "And with our private bank, I think that we have shown this."
Kuehnel said he learned the attitude of actively living his faith from his friend, Joseph Ratzinger.
"He was always a kind and gentle man," he said, "long before he became pope. The former Cardinal Ratzinger's image as 'God's Rottweiler' was completely unfounded, because he was never that way. Those of us who knew him then, and who still know him now, can see that the only change to have taken place is that, finally, the world is starting to see him as he really is."
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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