Pope Benedict 'prayed to be passed over'

Pope Benedict XVI is showing he has humour and knows how to work a crowd, traits the public rarely saw during his quarter-century as the stern German guardian of the church’s conservative doctrine.

In the first glimpse of what went on inside his mind during last week’s conclave, Benedict said yesterday that he prayed to be passed over as pontiff because there were younger candidates and that when his election became clear, it felt like “the guillotine”.

He kissed babies and chuckled as he held an audience with German pilgrims - tens of thousands had flocked to his installation a day earlier – and gave a homily at a Roman basilica, St Paul Outside the Walls.

To his compatriots, he first apologised for being late, saying a meeting with religious leaders had run over time.

“The Germans are used to punctuality,” he joked. “I’m already very Italian.”

Thousands later packed the evening service, where the Pope held a biblical reading from the apostle Paul to the Romans – to show his connection to the city of Rome, where he is bishop.

Anja Tartarini, a 31-year-old actress who lined up early, suggested that the new Pope is winning fans despite inevitably being compared to John Paul II, his predecessor who died on April 2.

“He’s sweet and nice and strong. He has a different kind of charisma from John Paul,” she said . “He says he feels inadequate like a child, but with unbelievable humility he accepted this task.”

Benedict was elected the first German Pope in centuries on April 19 after four rounds of voting in 24 hours in one of the fastest conclaves in 100 years. While he was a leading candidate going into the conclave, at 78 he was considered old to be elected Pope.

“As the trend in the ballots slowly made me realise that, in a manner of speaking, the guillotine would fall on me, I started to feel quite dizzy,” Benedict said in his native German at the audience, smiling and chuckling.

“I thought that I had done my life’s work and could now hope to live out my days in peace.

“I told the Lord with deep conviction: 'Don’t do this to me. You have younger and better (candidates) who could take up this great task with a totally different energy and with different strength.'”

“Evidently, this time he didn’t listen to me,” Benedict joked.