In 1991, for example, he was here at the invitation of Herbert Schmabeck and celebrated High Mass with his brother Georg and Prelate Karl Hoffegger in the parish church, where Mozart’s “Ave verum” was also sung.
In 1996, Ratzinger lived at St. Stephan during a private stay and celebrated morning mass on several days. He was last in Baden in 2005, according to city hall. “Joseph Ratzinger visited the parish church of St. Stephen in the year of the 200th anniversary of the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,” said former mayor August Breininger. A commemorative plaque placed at St. Stephen’s after the election for pope is a reminder of that.
“The late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was very interested in music and was deeply moved to hear the ‘Ave verum’ at the premiere venue,” recalled Mayor Stefan Szirucsek (ÖVP). Those who knew him will remember the great theologian and teacher “as a cultured person and a lover of the arts”.