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20/04/2005
Pope Benedict XVI delivers his first Mass
Pope Benedict XVI has delivered his first Mass in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel this morning with the cardinals who elected him yesterday.
Benedict XVI admitted to feeling a “sense of inadequacy and human turmoil” at the responsibility of becoming the 265th Pope and leader of the Roman Catholic Church. However, he said: “I feel living in me a deep gratitude to God who does not abandon his flock but guides them always.”
Pope Benedict also said that he felt as though his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who died on April 2, was holding his hand.
German-born Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope yesterday afternoon. At 78, he is the oldest Pope to be elected since 1730 and the first German to be named Pope for a thousand years.
Cardinal Ratzinger is considered by some to be a controversial choice for Pope. He was born in 1927 in Bavaria in Germany and joined the Hitler Youth as a child, although it was reportedly after membership of the organisation became compulsory. He was also in the German Army during World War II, serving in an anti-aircraft unit, but later deserted. He spent time in a prisoner-of-war camp at the end of the war.
Cardinal Ratzinger, who was a close friend of Pope John Paul II, is also a hard-line conservative, who is strongly opposed to contraception, female priests, homosexuality and priestly marriage. Since 1981, he served as the head of congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican and was regarded as the Pope’s “ideological enforcer”.
More liberal members of the Catholic Church have reportedly been concerned at the choice of the man who has been dubbed “God’s Rottweiler”, hoping instead for a more liberal candidate to be elected.
However, the choice of Pope Benedict XVI has been welcomed by a number of international figures. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, described him as “a theologian of great stature, who has written some profound reflections on the nature of God and the church.”
US President George W. Bush said that Pope Benedict XVI was “a man of great wisdom and knowledge” and “a man who serves the Lord”.
(KMcA/GB)
Benedict XVI admitted to feeling a “sense of inadequacy and human turmoil” at the responsibility of becoming the 265th Pope and leader of the Roman Catholic Church. However, he said: “I feel living in me a deep gratitude to God who does not abandon his flock but guides them always.”
Pope Benedict also said that he felt as though his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who died on April 2, was holding his hand.
German-born Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope yesterday afternoon. At 78, he is the oldest Pope to be elected since 1730 and the first German to be named Pope for a thousand years.
Cardinal Ratzinger is considered by some to be a controversial choice for Pope. He was born in 1927 in Bavaria in Germany and joined the Hitler Youth as a child, although it was reportedly after membership of the organisation became compulsory. He was also in the German Army during World War II, serving in an anti-aircraft unit, but later deserted. He spent time in a prisoner-of-war camp at the end of the war.
Cardinal Ratzinger, who was a close friend of Pope John Paul II, is also a hard-line conservative, who is strongly opposed to contraception, female priests, homosexuality and priestly marriage. Since 1981, he served as the head of congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican and was regarded as the Pope’s “ideological enforcer”.
More liberal members of the Catholic Church have reportedly been concerned at the choice of the man who has been dubbed “God’s Rottweiler”, hoping instead for a more liberal candidate to be elected.
However, the choice of Pope Benedict XVI has been welcomed by a number of international figures. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, described him as “a theologian of great stature, who has written some profound reflections on the nature of God and the church.”
US President George W. Bush said that Pope Benedict XVI was “a man of great wisdom and knowledge” and “a man who serves the Lord”.
(KMcA/GB)
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