Pope celebrates a very Bavarian 85th birthday

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated a very Bavarian birthday yesterday, marking his 85 years with his brother, German bishops and a band from his native land.

Benedict began the day with a Mass in which he alluded to his own mortality, saying he would carry on his final years knowing God was watching over him.

“I am facing the final leg of the path of my life and I don’t know what’s ahead,” Benedict said in his homily. “I know though that God’s light is there . . . and that his light is stronger than every darkness.”