The former Bishop em. of Passau, Wilhelm Schraml, in agreement with the Freising Bishop´s conference, established an ecclesiastical trust which was officially recognised by the Bavarian Ministry of Education and Culture. The aim of the Pope Benedict Birthplace Trust is to present the personal and spiritual life of Pope Benedict XVI. The initiative for establishing the trust came from relatives of the former Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Josef Frings, whose council theologian was the former Bonn theology professor, Joseph Ratzinger. The trust is represented by the chairman of the executive board, Domkapitular Hans-Georg Platschek, archdiocese of Munich and Freising, and the second chairman, the finance director of the diocese of Passau, Dr. Josef Sonnleitner.
Belonging to the Board of Trustees are Diocesan Bishop Dr. Stefan Oster, Vicar General Josef Ederer, Financial Director Markus Reif, Financial Director Erwin Saiko, Prof Dr Alexander Kolb, Permanent Secretary Dr Maximilian Gromes and Mayor Benedikt Dittmann