Pope Benedict XVI was formally installed as Pope Sunday, April 24, and reached out to non-Catholics at an open-air Mass in Saint Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
The 78-year old Pope was presented with the symbols of power, the Papal ring and the pallium -a narrow stole of white wool. During his sermon the new leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics reached out to Jews "with whom we share the spiritual heritage" and called for unity with other Christian denominations.
Later roughly 300 priests had the difficult task to distribute bread to people from church backgrounds during the Holy Communion, a Catholic term for the last supper of Jesus before he was crucified for the sins of mankind, an event the Bible suggests happened roughly 2000 years ago.
Political and religious leaders from around the world and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims heard how the pontiff sounded like an evangelical Christian at times when addressing the crowd, as he appealed to youngsters and the rich and famous "to open the door for Christ."
SHARING FAITH
He also urged believers to share their faith in Christ. "There is nothing more beautiful than to speak about your relationship with Him," the pontiff said. "Dear young people, do not be afraid of Christ," Pope Benedict XVI said, which was seen as a reference to concern within the Catholic Church about aspects of materialism and Western pope culture.
And, in an apparent hint to Christians from non-Catholic denominations, he stressed that "anyone" who was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit was part of the "community of saints," as people could be made new in Christ.
It was a reference to his predecessor, the late John Paul II, who used a similar terminology when he was elected pope in 1978. Pope Benedict XVI appeared vulnerable at times when he said he realized he was "to weak" for the task ahead. "I need your prayers," he said, under loud applause of the audience.
INAUGURATION CEREMONY
The two-hour inauguration ceremony began with the Pope and the Roman Catholic cardinals processing to the site of St Peter’s tomb, underneath St Peter’s Basilica, to pray. The Pope, dressed in a gold robe over sacred white vestments, then emerged from the church into the sunshine of St Peter’s Square as a choir sang the Laudes Regiae, a litany calling for divine assistance for the new Pope.
However Vatican watchers said that in a break with previous papal installations the attending cardinals did not kneel before the Pope to pledge obedience. Instead they say it was remarkable that the ritual was carried out by a group of 12 people, chosen to represent the diversity of the Church and the 12 original apostles.
The group was comprised of three cardinals, a bishop, a priest, a deacon, a married couple, a nun, a monk and two young people who have received the sacrament of confirmation. The pope also addressed women and lay persons as playing a central part of the Catholic Church, giving hope to those who have urged the Vatican to be open for reforms at a time of a dramatic shortfall of priests in especially Western nations.
GOVERNMENT PROGRAM
Pope Benedict XVI refused to lay out a program of governance saying there was more time to do so. "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. Instead he wanted to focus on "the unity" and show that "the Church is alive and young."
The Pope’s elder brother, 81-year old Reverend Georg Ratzinger, was among those attending the inauguration along with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Horst Koehler. Other heads of state and government include French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Spanish King Juan Carlos. United States President George W Bush was represented by his brother Jeb, the Florida Governor, who leads a delegation
of 21 members of Congress.
The service ended with the "Urbi et Orbi" ("To the city and the world") blessing pronounced by the Pope in Latin. In centuries gone by, the new pontiff would be crowned with a special tiara and carried around the square in a wooden chair, but this ritual was abolished by Pope John Paul I, Vatican watchers said.
SEVERAL LANGUAGES
Parts of the Mass were read in several languages, including Arabic, Chinese, German, Portuguese and Spanish. 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 could be seen reaching out to him and touching his picture.
Experts noted that the new "pope mobile" was not surrounded by the bullet-proof glass that was installed around the vehicle used by John Paul II after the 1981 assassination attempt against the late pontiff.
Analysts say Sunday’s mass showed that the new pope, who was previously known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, wanted to dispel his widespread image as the guardian of traditional Roman Catholic doctrine, a post he held for 24 years under John Paul II, by reaching out to other faiths. (With addittional reports from Vatican, Rome and BosNewsLife Research).
