Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday called for harmony in his diverse and sometimes fractious church, saying that like a church organ it needed to remain in tune.
Benedict made his remarks as he blessed the new organ at Regensburg's Alte Kapelle, or Old Chapel, during his visit to his native Germany. He made a comparison to the church, saying that "if organ pipes are out of tune dissonance ensues and the result is unbearable."
"Now this is an image of our community in the church," he said standing amid the chapel's gilded and white rococo decoration and altar.
"Just as in an organ an expert hand must constantly bring disharmony back to consonance so we in the Church, in the variety of our gifts and charismas, always need to find anew, through our communion in faith, harmony in the praise of God and in fraternal love," said Benedict, a skilled pianist who loves Mozart.
Benedict is making a six-day homecoming tour of his native Bavaria, where he served as archbishop in the regional capital, Munich, from 1977 to 1982. His stop in Regensburg gives him a chance to visit the university where he once taught theology and see his brother, Rev. Georg Ratzinger, retired choir director at the city's cathedral.
His chief themes during the trip have been the need for faith and reason to work together, and for an increasingly secular Europe to return to its historic Christian faith.
Later Wednesday, he was to visit the graves of his parents, Josef and Maria Ratzinger, and of his sister, Maria.
