In Rome, Dietrich’s encounter with the Catholic church–which played only a minor role in Berlin at that time–was very important. In his journal he noted:

“Palm Sunday…the first day that something of the reality of Catholicism dawned on me, nothing romantic or the like, but rather that I am beginning, I believe, to understand the concept ‘church’” (Renate Bethge: Dietrich Bonhoeffer–A Brief Life, 11).