Pope Benedict XVI
paid solemn tribute to Holocaust victims Friday,
extending his ''sadness, repentance, and friendship'' to the
Jewish people as he began a three-day pilgrimage to
Austria.
Under pelting
rain, the German-born pontiff joined Vienna's chief rabbi,
Paul Chaim Eisenberg, in quiet prayer before an austere
stone memorial honoring the 65,000 Viennese Jews who
perished in Nazi death camps and others burned at the
stake in the 1400s after refusing to convert.
Earlier Friday,
Benedict told reporters on his flight to Austria that the
poignant and highly symbolic stop at Vienna's Judenplatz, or
Jewish Square, was intended to show ''our sadness, our
repentance, and our friendship to the Jewish people.''
In 1938, the
city's Jewish community was one of the world's largest and
most vibrant with 185,000 members. Today, there are fewer
than 7,000.
Alluding to the
nation's Nazi past, President Heinz Fischer conceded in a
greeting to the pope that Austria had ''dark hours in its
history.''
Benedict, making
his seventh foreign trip in two years as pope, professed
his affection for the mostly Catholic country, telling
Austrians he felt ''a vivid sense...of being at home
here in your midst.''
''This cultural
space in the heart of Europe transcends borders and
brings together ideas and energies from various parts of the
continent,'' Benedict told Fischer and other
dignitaries at a military welcome hastily moved inside
an airport hangar because of the poor weather.
Austria borders
Eastern Europe and its melting pot of Catholics, Orthodox
Christians, Muslims, and Jews.
But the pope, who
visited and vacationed here often as a cardinal, faced
a challenge: Many Austrian believers, disgusted by clergy
sex scandals and deeply resentful of a
government-imposed church tax, have grown
cold--and tens of thousands have left the church
altogether.
Benedict's trip
underscored the difficulties the Vatican confronts across
Europe, where cathedrals are empty as disillusioned
believers question the relevance of faith in the
postmodern era.
Reflecting the
anti-pope sentiment held by some Austrians, Socialist
youth organizations planned a demonstration Friday afternoon
in central Vienna to protest the pontiff's
conservative stance on homosexuality, gay marriage and
other issues.
Cardinal
Christoph Schoenborn, the alpine nation's top churchman,
appealed to his countrymen not to let cynicism ''detract
from the joy of this visit.'' It is the first papal
visit to Austria since the late Pope John Paul II made
a pilgrimage in 1998.
''Your visit
honors us and makes us happy,'' Fischer told Benedict.
Several hundred
cheering pilgrims huddled beneath umbrellas and sang ''O
Happy Day'' at an opening ceremony on Vienna's lavish Am Hof
square. The ceremony was delayed after microphones
failed and a giant screen went black. But the wet
crowd remained in good humor, applauding as the pope
grinned and waved, and some broke into song.
''I'm coming to
see the pope because I think he's on a mission to save
the world,'' said Madueke Ugokwe, 35, a Nigeria native
living in Austria.
Security was
heavy for Benedict's visit, with more than 3,500 police
officers and soldiers and 50 aircraft deployed to protect
him. The Interior Ministry said the measures were
taken even before this week's thwarted terrorist plot
in Germany.
On Saturday, the
pope holds an open-air Mass to commemorate the 850th
anniversary of the founding of Mariazell, a famous shrine to
the Virgin Mary about 60 miles southwest of Vienna.
The Vienna
archdiocese said 33,000 pilgrims were ticketed for the event
and that 70 bishops, mostly from Eastern Europe, would join
in. Benedict called the anniversary ''the reason for
my coming'' and said he would go as a simple pilgrim.
Benedict's visit
concludes Sunday with a Mass at Vienna's St. Stephen's
Cathedral and a visit to the Heiligenkreuz abbey outside the
capital. (Victor Simpson, AP)