Thousands turn out for Czech papal mass

Tens of thousands of cheering faithful packed a Czech airfield today for a Mass by Pope Benedict XVI, who is midway through a pilgrimage aimed at nudging the ex-communist country back to its religious roots.

Faithful from the Czech Republic and neighbouring countries – including Austria, Germany, Poland and Slovakia – sang and waved Czech and Vatican flags as the pope’s plane touched down at the airport in the southern city of Brno.

The Vatican said it hoped that 200,000 people would turn out, and organisers said the crowd had swelled to over 100,000 before the Mass got under way.

The 82-year-old pontiff’s three-day visit comes as Czechs prepare to mark 20 years since their 1989 Velvet Revolution shook off a regime that had ruthlessly persecuted the Roman Catholic Church.

Benedict is using the trip to recall communist-era religious repression and appeal to the strongly secular Czech people to reconsider a faith many have abandoned.

His predecessor, John Paul II, visited the former Czechoslovakia three times, but this weekend’s tour is Benedict’s first as pope. Although the nation of 10 million has given him a lukewarm reception, he got an enthusiastic welcome in the centre of the country’s Roman Catholic heartland.

The Czech Republic is one of the most secular countries in Europe, with nearly half the country professing to be non-believers.

Under communism, the church was brutally repressed.

The regime, which seized power in 1948 in what was then Czechoslovakia, confiscated all church-owned property and persecuted many priests. Churches were then allowed to function only under the state’s control and supervision.

In 1991, 4.5 million of the country’s 10 million people said they belonged to a church. In 2001, a census showed that number had plunged to 3.3 million.

Recent surveys suggest the freewheeling drop continues. About one in two respondents to a poll conducted by the agency STEM said they do not believe in God.

On Saturday, the pope decried the “wounds” left by decades of atheistic communism, and he urged Czechs to reconsider Christianity and the “irreplaceable role” it has played in their lives.

The German-born pope, who has been giving his speeches in either English or Italian, is making his first foreign trip since he broke his right wrist in a fall while on holidays in July. He told reporters aboard his plane that he is finally able to write again and hopes to complete a new book by next spring.

Despite the lack of posters and billboards promoting the visit, Jana Kocvarova of Brno said she was thrilled to hear the pope.

“His visit is something money can’t buy,” said Kocvarova, 58. “It’s of all importance for all of us.”