Pope Benedict installed
World leaders show respects
Reuters, AFP, Vatican City
Pope Benedict XVI was installed as leader of the Roman Catholic Church yesterday, receiving the symbols of his authority at an inaugural outdoor Mass that mixed centuries-old pageantry with prayer.Three weeks after the death of John Paul II, pilgrims and patriarchs, presidents and priests once again packed the cobbled expanse in front of St. Peter's Basilica for the solemn service - the final rite in the papal transition. The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected in a secret conclave of the Catholic Church's 115 voting cardinals last Tuesday. At 78 the oldest pope for three centuries, he emerged onto the steps of the basilica behind a procession of cardinals and paused briefly to wave to a sea of onlookers estimated by city authorities at up to half a million. Applause echoed around the square, decked with 20,000 flowers in the white and yellow of the Vatican, and the crowd held aloft a multitude of national flags that shimmered in the spring sunlight. Marking Benedict's elevation to the papacy, a cardinal placed around his neck a stole of white wool, embroidered with red crosses -- the pallium which used to worn by Roman emperors and now symbolises a pope's pastoral authority. Benedict also received the Fisherman's Ring, which carries his papal seal and will be smashed following his death. "O God ... give your blessing to our Pope Benedict, whom you have placed at the top of the apostolic ministry," Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano said in a Latin prayer. Meanwhile, kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers paid their respects Sunday to Pope Benedict XVI moments after his solemn inauguration as head of the Roman Catholic Church. Fewer world leaders were at the Mass than at John Paul's funeral, which with 2,500 dignitaries resembled a summit of the world's powerful, but the attendance list was still long. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Horst Koehler were heading the German delegation. The US group was led by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of President Bush and a convert to Catholicism. The guest list included Spain's King Juan Carlos and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion. Also present was Benedict's brother Georg, 81 and also a priest.
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