In a ceremony replete with solemnity and joy, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday accepted the Fisherman’s Ring and woollen pallium symbolising his leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.
Before 350 000 pilgrims and tens of millions of television viewers around the world, he sat in a great white chair with gold trim below a colorful tapestry of the biblical miracle of the fish, which hung from the balcony where his election was proclaimed last Tuesday.
The pope, who appeared alternately calm and nervous, broke into his first full smile as Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State, bestowed the ring to a riot of applause from the throngs in a sun-drenched Saint Peter’s Square.
It was the moment the pope formally assumed the stewardship of the church, as the 264th successor to St Peter.
The pallium, a white tie-like garment bearing five red crosses, symbolises the pope’s role as shepherd of God’s flock, and the Fisherman’s Ring, bearing an image of St Peter and his net, recalls when Jesus revealed his divinity to Peter in the biblical miracle of the fish.
The two objects — the ring set in an open, gold-encrusted case, and the pallium lying on a silver tray — had been borne in a solemn procession from St Peter’s tomb in the heart of the basilica where Benedict XVI paused in prayer before the start of the Mass.
As with his predecessor John Paul II’s funeral on April 8, St Peter’s Square was a patchwork quilt of colors, with a purple swath of bishops, a white section of nuns and priests and the black of dignitaries from scores of countries. Swiss Guards stood solemnly in their striped livery and red-plumed helmets.
Pilgrims waved flags from many nations, especially the pope’s native Germany, as well as the blue-and-white standard of his home region, Bavaria, but also from Italy, Brazil, Britain, Lebanon, Argentina, Scotland and Sri Lanka.
The inaugural Mass combining modern and ancient elements was concelebrated by 150 cardinals wearing squat white mitres and off-white cloaks with sparkling gold markings over white vestments, worn to mark the sacred nature of the occasion, as well as black-robed prelates from the eastern rite churches.
Benedict XVI, wearing a tall gold mitre and cloak over his white vestments and carrying the crucifix so long associated with John Paul II, waved to the roaring crowd as he emerged into the square.
In a break with past papal inaugurations — when all attending cardinals took part in a rite of allegiance, kneeling before the pope and kissing his hand — on Sunday the ceremony was performed by a selection of 12 people, equal to the number of apostles.
Selected to reflect the diversity of the church, they included Sodano and the cardinal who proclaimed the pope’s election, Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez of Chile, but also a nun, a monk, a young Korean couple and their child, and two young people, one from Sri Lanka and another from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It was a relaxed, intimate moment during which the smiling pope had brief chats with each, although the Congolese, kneeling before the pope and kissing his hand, seemed to be speechless with awe.
Reflecting the worldwide reach of the church, scripture readings were in English and Spanish, while prayers were offered in French, German, Chinese, Portuguese, Arabic, Greek and Latin.
The pope seemed to grow in confidence as he delivered his homily in Italian, a message frequently interrupted by applause, in which he asked for prayers to help him, a ”weak servant of God”, in the ”enormous task which truly exceeds all human capacity”.
”I am not alone,” he said. ”I do not have to carry alone what, in truth, I could never carry alone.”
In the most solemn part of the ceremony, the pope blessed a jewel-studded golden chalice before dozens of priests in white processed into the throngs to give communion, while a select few received communion from the pontiff himself to the uplifting voices of the Sistine Chapel choir of 60 men and boys. — Sapa-AFP