Day 6 of Pope Benedict XVI's Reign - Cracks Jokes With Countrymen, Visits St. Paul's

Yahoo! News ^ | 4/25/2005 | n/a

[Pyro7480]

Pope Benedict XVI holds a statue of the Virgin Mary with Child given to him as a gift during an audience with German pilgrims in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Monday, April 25, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI, who is the first German pope in centuries, received a hero's welcome from his fellow countrymen who came to Rome to attend his installment Mass on Sunday.(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Pope Benedict XVI waves during an audience with German pilgrims in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Monday, April 25, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI, who is the first German pope in centuries, received a hero's welcome from his fellow countrymen who came to Rome to attend his installment Mass on Sunday. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Pope Benedict XVI arrives for the first audience with German pilgrims at the Vatican in Rome April 25, 2005. Pilgrims from all over the world made their way to the inauguration of the former German Cardinal Josef Ratzinger yesterday. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz

Pope Benedict XVI arrives for an audience with German pilgrims at the Vatican April 25, 2005. Pilgrims from all over the world made their way to the inauguration of the former German Cardinal Josef Ratzinger yesterday. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz

Pope Benedict XVI, flanked by German Cardinals Joachim Meisner, left, and Friedrich Wetter, blesses German pilgrims during an audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Monday, April 25, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI, who is the first German pope in centuries, received a hero's welcome from his fellow countrymen who came to Rome to attend his installment Mass on Sunday.(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

German pilgrims attend an audience with Pope Benedict XVI in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Monday, April 25, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI, who is the first German pope in centuries, received a hero's welcome from his fellow countrymen who came to Rome to attend his installment Mass on Sunday. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Pope Benedict XVI shakes hands with German Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, Archbishop of Munich, during an audience with German pilgrims in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Monday, April 25, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI, who is the first German pope in centuries, received a hero's welcome from his fellow countrymen who came to Rome to attend his installment Mass on Sunday.(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Georg Ratzinger, second from left, brother of Pope Benedict XVI, shares a word with bishops and a cardinal following the pontiff's audience with German pilgrims in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Monday, April 25, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI, who is the first German pope in centuries, received a hero's welcome from his fellow countrymen who came to Rome to attend his installment Mass on Sunday.(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Georg Ratzinger, brother of Pope Benedict XVI, sits by himself prior to the pontiff's audience with German pilgrims in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Monday, April 25, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI, who is the first German pope in centuries, received a hero's welcome from his fellow countrymen who came to Rome to attend his installment Mass on Sunday.(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

In this photo made available by the Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI holds a meeting with world religious leaders in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican, Monday, April 25, 2005. Benedict told ecumenical leaders on Monday that he fully supported the need to work toward uniting Christians divided by schism. (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano,ho)

In this photo made available by the Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano, world religious leaders applaud Pope Benedict XVI, in white, during a meeting in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican, Monday, April 25, 2005. Benedict told ecumenical leaders on Monday that he fully supported the need to work toward uniting Christians divided by schism. (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano)

In this photo made available by the Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI greets the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams during a meeting in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican, Monday, April 25, 2005. Benedict told ecumenical leaders on Monday that he fully supported the need to work toward uniting Christians divided by schism. At left, German Cardinal Walter Kasper. (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano, HO)

In this photo made available by the Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI, center, greets Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill, left, a senior representative of the Russian Orthodox Church, during a meeting in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican, Monday, April 25, 2005. Benedict told ecumenical leaders on Monday that he fully supported the need to work toward uniting Christians divided by schism. (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano)

Pope Benedict XVI arrives for a celebration service in St. Paul basilica in Rome April 25, 2005. The new Pope praised dialogue with Muslims for the first time and issued another call for Christian unity, renewing a theme he has made a hallmark of the early days of his papacy. (Tobias Schwarz/Reuters)

Pope Benedict XVI waves to the crowd a celebration service in the Basilica of Saint Paul in Rome, April 25, 2005. The new Pope Benedict praised dialogue with Muslims for the first time on Monday and issued another call for Christian unity, renewing a theme he has made a hallmark of the early days of his papacy. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz

[Pyro7480]

More pictures from today in post #20.

[onyx]

I hope he's getting a proper amount of rest.

Viva il Papa.

[Pyro7480]

I'm thinking that he probably won't the first few weeks.

[Miss Marple]

Thanks for the new pictures!

[virgil]

For the marxist ideology actually uses the Jewish-Christian tradition and turns it into a godless prophetic movement; man's religious energies are used as a tool for political ends and directed to a merely earthly hope, which is equivalent to standing on its head the Christian yearning for eternal life.

He is so right. Communists, fascists make great use of God, patriotism, democracy. Just read Mein Kampf. Hitler writes about it too. In practice, it turns out to be quite different though.

[padfoot_lover]

Thanks for the great pictures today. I'm glad his brother has been there for him; that must give the Holy Father great comfort.

[TAdams8591]

Die Bilder sind WUNDERBAR!!!! Danke!

[ColoCdn]

Great pics, wonderful man.

I hope you don't get tired of hearing "Thanks", Pyro.

[cpforlife.org]

This is an awesome thread.

Pope Benedict XVI is an awesome man, Priest, Bishop and Pope.

Renewed sense of Hope and Joy.

Thanks Pyro.

[fatnotlazy]

Thank you yet again. Some truly marvelous pics and great stories.

This Pope is all right by me. :)

[starfish923]

Thanks for the newest pics.
They are wunderbar.

[fatnotlazy]

Thanks for the great pictures. Once people get a chance to see for themselves what type of man Benedict is, it will be hard for the smear artists to keep their campaign going.

***

I'm amazed that some of these so-called "news organizations" didn't learn their lesson from their smear campaign against the President. They just don't get it that people don't want this kind of negativity. Well, it's their loss. And they are going to lose big time.

[shhrubbery!]

Thanks for the quote clarifying the new Pope's views on liberation theology.

My only concern --and it's a very minor one-- is that if Joseph Bottum is right, Benedict XVI does look favorably upon socialism, even though he condemns Marxism.

I'm predicting that the God-less Left (and its media accomplices) will pounce on some potential future statement of Benedict XVI re "social justice" --and distort it to claim that the Pope demands that we pay more taxes to support an ever burgeoning welfare state, etc. etc.

But I think Benedict XVI's main focus will be on the culture of life, and on the re-Christianization of Europe (and perhaps, of America). And I have great hopes for him there!