In addition to Northern Germany's Protestant leanings, people were not pleased with the Pope visiting because of his views on birth control, homosexuality, and his handling of the sexual abuse scandal. Also, some felt that his speech to the Parliament was in violation of the separation of church and state.
Fun fact: Places aren't open on Sunday because it is recognized in the German Constitution as a day of rest. However, there are 12 Sundays each year when stores are allowed to be open and generally they correspond to high tourist times. Additionally, these rules do not apply to travel places (gas stations, train stations, airports) and there are some exceptions for pharmacies as well. Also, convenience stores (Spätkauf) don't seem to follow these rules, but I'm not sure why. A very wily grocery store owner has taken advantage of the exception for travel and has a store technically in/under a train station, so it's one of two grocery stores I know that are open on Sundays.
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