St. Corbinian’s Bear

In the 8th century, St. Corbinian of Freising (c. 670–730) set out for Rome when a bear attacked and killed his pack-horse. Corbinian rebuked the beast, loaded his luggage onto its back, and—miraculously—the bear carried the pack all the way to Rome. When they arrived, the saint set the bear free.

The bear became the symbol of Munich–Freising and the emblem Joseph Ratzinger adopted in 1977.
Later Pope Benedict XVI, he saw himself not as Corbinian but as the bear carrying a burden he never sought.

He was called to Rome in 1981 by John Paul II to lead the Church’s doctrinal office — a role he took out of obedience, not ambition. By 2005, his reluctance made even more sense. He had spent years confronting what he called the Church’s “filth” — the global clerical abuse crisis, bishops’ failures to act, and the corruption, power struggles, and infighting later exposed in the Vatican leaks.
He knew the next pope would inherit a storm. He felt too old, too academic, and not the right person for that battle.

But the cardinals elected him anyway. As pope, he placed the bear on his coat of arms, turning an old Bavarian legend into a symbol of reluctant duty carried faithfully.
And in 2013, when he resigned — becoming one of the very few popes to step down in nearly 600 years — the legend closed perfectly:

After decades of carrying the load, the bear was finally set free…

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More information:
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2013/02/11/pope-benedicts-resignation-and-st-corbinians-bear/