New Pope sets store by lost traditions
VATICAN CITY, Monday (Reuters) Pope Benedict brings back another
Church tradition with his first visit outside the Vatican to pay homage
at the tomb of St. Paul the Apostle.
The pilgrimage to the 4th century Basilica of St. Paul Outside the
Walls, in the southern suburbs of Rome, will be the first time the new
Pontiff has made an official foray outside the tiny Vatican City state
since his election on April 19.
Such visits to the church, the largest in Rome after St. Peter's
Basilica, were once a feature of papal installations but had fallen by
the wayside in more recent times. A Vatican statement said the visit
would underscore the "inseparable link" with the Apostles Peter and
Paul, the founders of the Roman Catholic Church.
St. Peter was the Church's first Pontiff and Benedict, the German
former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 78, paid homage at his tomb in the
crypt beneath the main altar inside St. Peter's before his inaugural
Mass on Sunday.
That stop was a new feature of the rituals that mark the start of a
new papacy but much of what Benedict has done in his early days as Pope
has been to return to long-held traditions.
The shimmering gold vestments Benedict wore for his investiture on
Sunday had once been worn by John Paul - thus symbolising continuity
with his long-serving predecessor - but he is already making his own
mark on the papacy in subtle ways.
Since he appeared on the main balcony of St. Peter's last Tuesday to
salute the crowds who had waited for two days for the white smoke that
signals a Pope has been chosen, he has worn red slippers - John Paul
always wore brown leather shoes.
The narrow white wool stole, or pallium, that Benedict received as a
symbol of his papal authority during Sunday's open-air service was
another return to tradition.
And, in his first address as Pope last Wednesday - a seven-page
speech in Latin to the cardinals who elected him in their secret
conclave - he returned to the royal "We" of Popes as opposed to the
singular "I" that John Paul adopted.
After Sunday's ceremony, Benedict toured the crowd in St. Peter's
Square to wave and smile from an open-topped vehicle, but during the
Mass he stuck to Latin for the liturgy and delivered his lengthy sermon
entirely in Italian. |