GERMANY: Pope Benedict XVI has criticised secular "cynicism" towards religion and the mockery of religious belief during the first Mass of his six-day trip home to Bavaria.
More than 250,000 people gathered from early yesterday morning in the festival grounds outside Munich to hear the man they call "unser bua" - "our boy" - call for them to "rediscover God".
Promptly at 10am, to stirring music recalling the theme tunes of countless Hollywood biblical epics, the pope appeared on a huge altar with a wide-eyed smile of sheer joy. He greeted the crowd by letting a hearty "Grüß Gott!" (the traditional hello greeting in Bavaria) roll off his tongue with relish before leading the Mass with assurance in his native language, even when his homily turned stern.
"We are no longer able to hear God - there are too many different frequencies filling our ears . . . and we naturally lose our ability to speak with him and to him," he said, something he said resulted in a "curtailed relationship with reality" and "foreshortened" horizon in life.
It was a powerful message in a ceremony attended by large numbers of people with physical and mental disabilities: many followed the Mass on missals in Braille while others watched the simultaneous signed interpretation on big screens.
The pope criticised the contempt for religion in the western world and "the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom".
"This cynicism is not the kind of tolerance and cultural openness that the world's peoples are looking for and that all of us want," he said on the altar from under a 9th-century German monumental cross, the oldest in the world. "The tolerance which we urgently need includes the fear of God - respect for what others hold sacred." He called on bishops to give the same priority to evangelising projects that strengthen Catholic faith as to social projects. "Hearts must be converted if progress is to be made on social issues and reconciliation is to begin, and if, for example, Aids is to be combated by realistically facing its deeper causes and the sick given the loving care they need."
Among the first arrivals for the papal Mass about 3am was a group of people carrying in relay groups the huge cross blessed by the pope at last year's World Youth Day in Cologne. The morning chill vanished as the sun rose in a clear sky, bringing what Bavarians call "pope weather".
Every second person seemed to arrive in costume. The most popular was the traditional Bavarian costume with lederhosen and feathered hats for the men and the women in plaits and dirndl skirts. Shortly before the Mass began, a group of uniformed Order of Malta helpers rubbed suncream on their wheelchair-bound charges and then sang Happy Birthday for one of their group, Wolfgang Caro (36). By the time he celebrates his next birthday, Wolfgang hopes to have finished his conversion to Catholicism.
"The Lutheran Church is too rational and lacks esprit," said Dr Caro, an orthopedic specialist from Munich. "People need leadership from people able to make others feel enthusiasm."
Sr Cosima Kiesner from Munich said she had experienced a growing tolerance of religion and the Catholic Church in largely secular Germany since the election of Pope Benedict last year. "I think that understanding grows through interest. Theologically, there are still enough points he represents that could trouble people, but they are definitely more prepared to listen now."
Pope Benedict made it clear yesterday that his visit is strictly a Bavarian affair, to the places where he "learned to believe and learned to live".
This morning he visits the pilgrimage site of Alt-Ötting, the town of Freising where he studied to become a priest, and then to Regensburg and his brother, Msgr Georg Ratzinger.
"This is a once in a millennium experience, a Bavarian pope back in Bavaria," said local man Gottfried Hirschlag (63). "I imagine that he still suffers from homesickness so this homeland visit is important to him and to us. He won't come back this way again."