So Just How Catholic is Bavaria?

I’m not exactly sure, but enough for 300,000 participants to overtake the center of Munich as part of Church Days which kicked off yesterday.  The event kicked off with one of Europe’s largest outdoor masses (minus at St. Peters in Rome, of course).  And it was held where else – but at the Theresienwiese, where the Oktoberfest is held every year.  With more than 3000 political and religious events planned, this is stated to be the largest religious event of its kind in Europe.  The headlines in the paper read this morning – Music, religion, and no alcohol – which of course is a rare experience in Munich.  Pictured here is the backdrop of the big amphitheatre stage set up at Odeonsplatz, where down one street you could hear bands playing, and along the other there was absolute silence as large groups led prayers or processed through the city with a chain of more than 180,000 candle barers.  From the outside of the Altstadt, all you could see was that traffic at the center of the city was absolutely paralyzed, and that facilities all over town had been refitted to host church events.  Angela Merkel speaks on Friday, and even the pope made statements for the event about the need for stronger punishment of abusers in the church.  Amen to that.