Word: benedicts
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...hours before Pope Benedict XVI would take his historic step into the Cologne synagogue, and reporters were not impressed with what the Pope planned to say. Reading from the prepared text of Benedict's speech, a Vatican-based German correspondent pointed out what the speech didn't say. Sure, there was a no-holds-barred denunciation of what happened in Germany during World War II, which Benedict called "an insane racist ideology, born of neo-paganism...the attempt, planned and systematically carried out by the regime, to exterminate European Jewry." But where was a more explicit reference to the role...
...Pope walked into the main hall as the choir sang, ''Shalom alechem,'' or ''peace be with you." After two Hebrew hymns, and the blowing of the shofar ram's horn, the son of a Holocaust survivor and then the synagogue's rabbi spoke. When it came time for Benedict to rise, his remarks wouldn't stray much from the original text. But there was something happening that went beyond words. It was in the way the Pope listened so intently to his hosts. It was the warm, two-hand embrace he shared with the young rabbi...
...Benedict XVI's maiden papal voyage began today with cheering pilgrims and a retinue of reporters and bishops and bodyguards following his every step. Looming over the German pontiff's emotional homecoming, though, is Pope John Paul II and his imposing legacy of global outreach. John Paul not only racked up the miles-104 foreign trips during his 26-year papacy-he also had a natural gift for leaving both spiritual and political footprints almost anywhere he touched down (and kissed the ground): subtly undermining the Communist regime with emotional sermons in his native Poland; challenging breakaway priests of Latin...
...announcing that the next edition would be here in Cologne. That meant that three years later and four months after the Vatican's German-born doctrinal chief Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope, the first WYD without John Paul would turn into a homecoming for his successor. And Benedict seemed genuinely moved by his arrival on a warm, sunny day, carrying a beaming smile throughout a series of encounters with local authorities, and the flocks and flocks of screaming and chanting and waving young people...
...predecessor's footsteps to the back of the plane to chat with the 50 or so reporters on board? Yes, was the answer, but briefly. After saying he was "moved" and counting on young people "as a force for peace," his spokesman cut off our questions even though Benedict appeared ready to take more. But there are certain decisions that only the Holy Father can make. And so two hours later, as he stepped briskly down the stairs toward the airport tarmac, the next question was about to be answered. No, Pope Benedict XVI did not kiss the ground...