People hope new Pope can build bridges

Officials and churchgoers from around the world expressed hope today that the new Pope will continue the work of his predecessor by building interfaith bridges. Even China said icy ties with the Vatican could improve – but only if the church breaks off relations with Taiwan.

Churchgoers applauded loudly in Manila’s Redemptorist Church, where John Paul II once celebrated Mass, after a priest announced the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, head of the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.