Berlin, Germany - The head of the German Bishops' Conference says his nation's Roman Catholics have a "somewhat distorted" view of Pope Benedict XVI because of his years as the Vatican's guardian of church doctrine.
The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was born in Bavaria, spent more than two decades as head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before he was elected pope in April.
Many Roman Catholics in his native country blamed him for past decrees prohibiting Catholics from sharing Communion with Lutherans, and barring priests from participating in a government-funded counseling program for pregnant teens that the Vatican said could lead the teens to choose abortion.
"Perhaps we have had an incorrect picture of Cardinal Ratzinger in Germany over time," said Cardinal Karl Lehmann, leader of the conference. "Everything that was a little bit difficult with Rome over the past two decades was laid time and again at his door because he was the highest-ranking German in Rome, because he had particular responsibility."
Benedict's first foreign trip, planned for August, will take him to his homeland to attend World Youth Day in Cologne. While the program for his trip is not yet finalized, Lehmann said he did not expect the pope to visit his Bavarian home region.
Lehmann, who is considered a liberal and was a defender of the church's role in state abortion counseling, said the pope likely would be "sensitive to how he speaks" on social issues and relations with other Christians.
But "he is not a tactician - he will say what he believes he has to say," Lehmann added. "He is a man who always seeks the truth."