Benedict makes first weekly appearance

It was the pontiff’s first appearance in the modern Paul VI hall that hosts the weekly general audiences.

The Pope chuckled during a one-minute ovation from pilgrims as he entered.

"I hope to follow this dialogue with you and I share, as Pope John Paul II observed concerning the faith, the development of social communications," the pontiff told more than 1,000 members of the media and pilgrims.

Benedict noted John Paul had been “a great artisan” of an “open and sincere” dialogue with the media that was started by the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s.

“Thanks to all of you, this historically important ecclesial events have had worldwide coverage. I know how hard you have worked, far away from your homes and families for long hours and in sometimes difficult conditions.

“I am aware of this dedication with which you have accomplished this demanding task,” he said.

The session, which lasted about 15 minutes, ended without the pope taking any questions.

“You could say that thanks to your work for so many weeks, the attention of the whole world has been fixed on the basilica, on St Peter’s Square, and on the Apostolic Palace, inside of which my predecessor, the unforgettable John Paul II, serenely ended his earthly existence,” the Pope said.

The 78-year-old Benedict is quickly setting the personal tone of his reign - and it’s not the distant and strident papacy that many feared because of his long role as the church’s watchdog of theology.

An open-air Mass in St Peter’s Square tomorrow is expected to draw half a million faithful and hundreds of dignitaries to Rome. The decision for an outdoor Mass – rather than one in St Peter’s Basilica – shows Benedict favours the populist touch of recent popes who have made the same choice.

There were other signs the world is warming swiftly to the German-born pope: a Polish archbishop said Benedict would be invited to his predecessor’s homeland in August, and the Pope’s Vatican e-mail address received more than 56,000 messages in the first two days.

Italian officials are putting tight security in place for the Mass in St Peter’s Square tomorrow, where dignitaries are expected to include German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder; Prince Albert II of Monaco and Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the US president’s brother.

Also due to attend are the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams; Chrisostomos, a top envoy for Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Christian Orthodox, and a senior representative of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Kirill.

Known as the Ceremony of Investiture, it will be celebrated by the senior cardinal deacon, Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez, the Chilean who proclaimed Benedict’s name to the world as the 265th pontiff.

During the Mass, Benedict will receive his papal Fisherman’s Ring as well as the pallium – a narrow stole of white wool embroidered with six black silk crosses – which symbolises his pastoral authority.

Air space within a five-mile radius will be closed from 8am to 4pm (6am to 2pm) tomorrow, and Rome’s second airport, Ciampino, will be shut down.

Italian civil protection officials estimate that about 100,000 people from Benedict’s native Germany will flock to Rome. Italy will provide German-speaking volunteers from Italy’s bilingual Alpine regions to help them.

On Monday, Benedict is scheduled to hold talks with Chrisostomos. Healing the nearly 1,000-year-old rift between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox branches of Christianity was a major goal of the late pope.

Later on Monday, Benedict plans to visit the Rome basilica built over the tomb of St Paul, who helped bring Christianity to regions that now are split by the Catholic-Orthodox divide.

One decision by the pope will be closely watched: whom he picks as his successor to lead the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.