Pope's Old Home Goes Up for Sale

Within a few minutes of the announcement in April that a German cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger, was to be the new Pope, Claudia Dandl's front-doorbell rang.

Ever since, hundreds of tourists and pilgrims have knocked on Mrs Dandl's front door, eager to have a look inside the house where Pope Benedict XVI was born.

Yesterday, Mrs Dandl announced she had had enough and was selling the former toll house in the tiny Bavarian town of Marktl am Inn, in an attempt to get her "private life back".

"People have been ringing the bell every day. It's got so bad that Frau Dandl now uses the back entrance. She has to get into her own house secretly," said Victoria Rauh, an estate agent handling the sale.

The son of a policeman, Joseph Ratzinger was born in Mrs Dandl's current home - a yellow and white two-storey house with wooden shutters -on April 16 1927.

When news of his election as Pope came through, locals celebrated with a special mass and free beer. Since then, thousands of pilgrims have poured into the small town.

"We get tour buses every day," the mayor's office said. "And yes, most of them do all ring Frau Dandl's bell."

Yesterday, however, Mrs Rauh said there was no prospect of the house being used for tacky purposes. "All bidders have to submit a plan," she said. "It has to have some kind of religious dimension. And the town authorities have first refusal."

Interested buyers have until August 22 to submit an offer.

The Pope, meanwhile, is making his first trip back to Germany in August. Whether he will decide to drop in on Mrs Dandl is not known.