When Kurt and Anna-Maria Spennesberger heard the news about former pope Benedict XVI’s death, they immediately got into their car and drove 200 kilometres to the former pontiff’s southern German birth town Marktl.
They had to be at the small town bordering Austria for a special church service saying farewell to Benedict because “we knew Ratzinger personally,” said Kurt, 71, using the ex-pope’s birth name.
“We already had some personal conversations with him, meetings, and that was simply a very human, personal contact,” he added.
Renate and Dane Cupic, 58 and 68, also travelled to Marktl from Austria, about 15 kilometres (10 miles) away, on hearing about Benedict’s demise.
It was “very important” to be there to “say goodbye”, said Dane.
The small town in the southern region of Bavaria, with a population of around 2,800, is synonymous with Benedict.
The house where the former pontiff was born in 1927 stands adjacent to the town hall, which itself is just a few steps away from St Oswald church where Benedict was baptised.
Candles have been placed at the foot of the Benedict column which stands by the town hall, while a black ribbon hangs down from the flags of papal coat of arms at his birth house and at the church.
