Pope pledges to work for peace

POPE BENEDICT XVI held the first general audience of his pontificate yesterday, pledging to work for reconciliation and peace.

He also referred to Europe’s Christian roots in what is expected to be a major theme of his papacy.

The Pope touched on the issues as he described how he chose his name, recalling Pope Benedict XV, who led the Church during the First World War.

“In his footsteps I place my ministry in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples.”

He also recalled St Benedict of Norcia, a patron saint of Europe, “whose life evokes the Christian roots of Europe. I ask him to help us all hold firm to the centrality of Christ in our Christian life”.

Pope Benedict arrived in St Peter’s Square in an open-topped vehicle surrounded by security guards.

The weekly appointment has been a fixture for recent Popes, and an estimated 15,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Square for the event. The faithful waved and reached out to him as the vehicle, with the Pope standing in the back, passed through the square.

Benedict, who was formally installed on Sunday, greeted pilgrims in a half-dozen languages, including Polish, the native language of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

“I greet the faithful of the Polish language. I thank you for your goodness and your prayers. I bless you from my heart,” Benedict said.

In English, he describe how he was filled with “sentiments of awe and thanksgiving,” adding in his native German the word “trembling”.

The 90-minute audience in the sun-baked square was slightly down from those held by John Paul II. After the formal remarks, only bishops and clerics - not ordinary pilgrims - were brought up for greetings. The reference to Europe’s Christian heritage is a theme Benedict is expected to take up frequently in a bid to combat religious apathy on the continent. He said the founder of the Benedictine order is heavily venerated in Germany and “in particular Bavaria, the land of my origin”.