Pope Benedict XVI
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Tens of thousands of pilgrims, visitors at St. Peter's Square Mass
Solemn Installation Mass for
Pope Benedict XVI
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Tens of thousands of pilgrims, visitors at St. Peter's Square Mass
Pope Benedict XVI Coat of Arms
PRAYER FOR POPE BENEDICT XVI
"Lord, source of eternal life and truth, give to your shepherd Pope Benedict XVI a spirit of courage and right judgment, a spirit of knowledge and love. By governing with fidelity those entrusted to his care, may he, as successor to the apostle Peter and the vicar of Christ, build your Church into a sacrament of unity, love and peace for all the world. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God, for ever and ever. Amen."
Photo released by the Italian Police showing an aerial view taken from helicopter of Via della Conciliazione and St. Peter's square filled by faithful and pilgrims during the installation mass of Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican Sunday, April 24, 2005. (AP Photo/Italian Police Press Office)
VATICAN CITY (CNN) -- Pope Benedict XVI has been formally installed at an open-air Mass outside St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, before a crowd filled with pilgrims and dignitaries -- and a worldwide television audience of millions.
VATICAN CITY (CP) - Pope Benedict formally began his stewardship of the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, reaching out to Jews, other Christians and "nonbelievers alike" and asking for prayers from the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and dignitaries gathered in St. Peter's Square as he assumed "this enormous task."
The former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who was known as the enforcer of church orthodoxy, said in his installation homily that as pope he would listen to the will of God in governing the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
"My real program of governance is not to do my own will, not to pursue my own ideas, but to listen, together with the whole church, to the word and the will of the Lord, to be guided by Him so that He himself will lead the church at this hour of our history," he said in his homily, read in Italian.The Vatican said 350,000 people were in and around St. Peter's Square, and civil protection forces said at least 50,000 more were watching the mass on giant television screens set up nearby. That figure was similar to the number of people who turned out for John Paul's April 8 funeral, although a total of three million people flocked to Rome in the days surrounding his death and the funeral Mass.
Along with an estimated 100,000 pilgrims from the Pope's native Germany, political and ceremonial dignitaries from more than 131 countries attended.
Pope Benedict XVI starts his procession with cardinals through St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican before his inaugural Mass April 24, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI took charge of his Church at a majestic inauguration on Sunday and set the tone for his papacy with a plea to humanity to return to God and transform a world he called a desert of pain and poverty. REUTERS/Osservatore Romano/Pool
Wearing golden vestments and clutching his pastoral staff, Pope Benedict began the ceremony by walking into the area under St. Peter's Basilica where St. Peter is believed to be buried, paying homage to the first pope and blessing the tomb with incense as a choir chanted.
At the end of the mass, he blessed the crowd standing and waving as he rode in a white, open-topped jeep-like vehicle surrounded by security guards. The faithful reached out to him and snapped his picture. The new "popemobile" was not surrounded by the bulletproof glass installed around the vehicle used by John Paul after he was shot in 1981.
In one of the most symbolic moments of the two-hour mass, Pope Benedict was given his Fisherman's Ring and a woollen pallium, or shawl - both symbols of his papal authority. The ring is emblazoned with an image of Peter casting his fishing nets and was traditionally used to seal apostolic letters.
The pallium - a narrow shawl of white lamb and sheep's wool embroidered with five silk crosses - symbolizes the Pope's role as a shepherd taking care of his flock. The pallium was pierced by three golden pins to symbolize the nails driven into the cross on which Christ was crucified, and the red colour of the crosses is for Christ's blood.
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates his first mass in St Peter's Square at the Vatican. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flocked to the Vatican early Sunday for the inaugural mass of Pope Benedict XVI, who was to be installed as the Roman Catholic Church's 265th pope.(AFP/Paolo Cocco)
VATICAN CITY (CP) - Pope Benedict formally began his stewardship of the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, reaching out to Jews, other Christians and "nonbelievers alike" and asking for prayers from the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and dignitaries gathered in St. Peter's Square as he assumed "this enormous task."
Pope Benedict, looking tired and coughing several times, was interrupted by applause several times during his homily, particularly when he invoked his predecessor, Pope John Paul."And now at this moment, weak servant of God that I am, I must assume this enormous task, which truly exceeds all human capacity," he said.
He quoted John Paul's inaugural homily in 1978, in which the late pope said: "Do not be afraid!"
In his homily, Benedict said he wanted to reach out to other Christians, delivering "special greetings" to them as well as to Jews "to whom we are joined by a great shared spiritual heritage."
"Finally, like a wave gathering force, my thoughts go out to all men and women of today, to believers and nonbelievers alike," he said.In one of his first acts, Benedict had invited Rome's chief rabbi to the installation ceremony. The rabbi, Riccardo di Segni, could not attend because of the Passover holiday which began Saturday.
Benedict's effort to reach out to the Jews was seen as significant because of his own past. He has acknowledged being a member of Hitler Youth as a teenager and was drafted to serve in the German army.Benedict sat on his gilded throne as he greeted dignitaries after the mass.
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