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9/11 prayers during Papal mass
11/09/2006 14:13 - (SA)
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| A nun rejoices prior to the arrival of pope Bendedict XVI to an open-air mass in Altoetting, southern Germany. (Diether Endlicher, AP) |
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Altoetting - Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in front of 70 000 people on Monday in the famed German pilgrimage centre of Altoetting and listened to a brief prayer for peace tied to the anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks.
The pope, on a sentimental six-day homecoming tour of his native Bavaria, confined his sermon to the Virgin Mary, Jesus's mother, to whom the Altoetting shrine is devoted.
"This is the mother that generations have come to Altoetting to visit," he said. "To her we entrust our cares, our needs and our troubles."
September 11 remembered
Laywoman Walburga Wieland offered a brief remembrance of the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
"We ask, five years after the terror attacks at the World Trade Centre in New York, for peace in the world," she said during the service.
Benedict, who arrived in Munich on Saturday, left the Bavarian capital by helicopter for the short hop to the city, where he was met by Bavarian governor Edmund Stoiber and Wilhelm Schraml, the Bishop of Passau, along with thousands of well-wishers who filled the sidewalks and squares.
Popemobile
People lined the route down which the "popemobile" travelled to the town, as church bells pealed to welcome Benedict's arrival. He rode to the central Chapel Square, surrounded by church spires and the Chapel of Mercy, believed to date from 700 AD.
The town is known for its wooden statue of the Black Madonna, which was first brought to Altoetting in 1330 and has since become a destination for people seeking help for their troubles. The dark colour comes from centuries of candle smoke.
The pope's family made several pilgrimages during his childhood, which the pontiff has said are among his earliest memories.
Benedict also planned to make a visit to Marktl am Inn, where he was born, and to Freising, where he was ordained a priest. He will also visit Regensburg, where he once taught theology; he still has a house in the city, and his brother Georg, a retired priest and choir director, lives there as well.
Beer tent closed till after Mass
Pilgrims gathered in the Dultplatz, a square near the papal route, as early as 02:30. A beer tent was set up and open for business, with sausages sizzling on the grill. No beer was to be sold until the afternoon, after Mass had ended.
"There are some people who might drink two or three beers and then get rowdy. This is something that we want to avoid today because this is our only chance, because the pope probably won't be back," said Peter Winke, 47, a representative of the Brauerei Hackelberg brewery.
"The next pope will probably be African or Italian and won't come to Bavaria."
- AP
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