Benedict Bashing

Those who follow my blogs may remember the one I wrote about Pope Benedict's visit to Freiburg. The other day, I commented on what is typically German concerning seeking justice in court.

Now, here comes a surprising association: A guy from Dortmund had his lawyer in Unna file a suit against the Pope for not having put on a seat belt while touring Freiburg: Mr. Joseph Ratzinger born in Marktl/Landkreis Altötting on 16 April 1927, drove on 24 and 25 September 2011 for more than an hour without a seat belt in his papamobile. Witnesses are the Archbishop of Freiburg Robert Zollitsch and Baden-Württemberg's Ministerpräsident (governor) Winfried Kretschmann. Freiburg's district court confirmed the receipt of a fax in this respect.

Pope Benedict XVI in his papamobile without a seat belt on Kaiser-Joseph-Straße (Wikipedia)

The Dortmund guy said he does not seek publicity, but justice must be done. There is a 30 euro fine for driving without a seat belt in Germany, increasing up to 2500 in case of recurrence, which the Pope indeed was guilty of. Do you still feel that my earlier allusion to Shylock standing for his bond was far-fetched? If not satisfied by the district court's decision, I am convinced the man from Dortmund will drag the case to our highest court in Karlsruhe.

What will happen? Freiburg's district court will declare not competent in the case as the Pope being head of state, enjoys diplomatic immunity. And indeed, taking the fact that diplomatic staff serving in Berlin gets away unpunished with drunken driving and car crashing, so not wearing seat belts is just a petty offense. However, Freiburg's district court's declared incompetence will open the way for an appeal to the next higher instance, and if all goes bad, the Pope's case will end up in Karlsruhe.

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