Germans Prefer the Dalai Lama over the Pope
By Alessandro Alviani
If Germans had to choose between the Dalai Lama and "their" Pope as a spiritual model from which to draw inspiration, they would choose the Tibetan spiritual leader without a doubt. This is according to the results of a survey carried out by the Forsa Institute for Social Research and Statistical Analysis, for weekly newspaper Stern, on newsstands from tomorrow, 12 January. Just a third of federal citizens (32%) see Benedict XVI as a model; the Dalai Lama on the other hand is favoured by 69% of Germans and ranks third in the list of individuals Germans consider to be exemplary figures. The former South African President and leader of the anti-apartheid movement Nelson Mandela takes first position (82%), followed by former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt (74%). Even Chancellor Merkel did better than Benedict XVI. She is seen as a model figure by one out of two Germans (51%). Others who outdid the Pope, were U.S. President Barack Obama (64% and the national German football team coach, Joachim Löw (54%).Among the ten individuals who scored lower than Benedict XVI in the Forsa survey, was federal president Christian Wulff who became involved in a scandal after he was given a reduced rate loan by an entrepreneur friend of his and after trying to stop a scoop by making threatening phone calls to German popular newspaper Bild's director and editor. Only 21% of Germans sees Wulff as a model figure. The days of the historic title "Wir sind Papst" (The Pope is us) seem long gone. The title was used by Bild in the aftermath of the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope in 2005 and became synonymous of the pride and sense of identification the Germans felt with the Pope at the time.
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