New Pope's Message For The World

In an open-air Mass in St. Peter's Square Sunday, Benedict XVI was formally installed as pope, the ceremonial beginning of his reign on the throne of St. Peter.

The Mass itself was celebrated by Benedict and the cardinals of the Catholic church, who elected him in the conclave five days earlier. The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was known as the enforcer of church orthodoxy, said in his installation homily that as pope, he would listen along with the church to the will of God in governing the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.

"My real program of governance is not to do my own will, not to pursue my own ideas, but to listen, together with the whole church, to the word and the will of the Lord, to be guided by Him so that He himself will lead the church at this hour of our history," he said in his homily, read in Italian.

In his homily, Benedict said he wanted to reach out to other Christians, delivering "special greetings" to them as well as to Jews "to whom we are joined by a great shared spiritual heritage."

"Finally, like a wave gathering force, my thoughts go out to all men and women of today, to believers and nonbelievers alike," he said.

The sky in Rome Sunday started off partly cloudy but the sun came out and it turned out to be a brilliant day with temperatures in the mid-50s.

Among the crowd were members of the clergy from a number of different faiths and dignitaries from around the world. Heading up the United States delegation was the president's brother, Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida. (He is Roman Catholic, having converted from being a Protestant; his wife, Columba, is Roman Catholic.)

CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports that pilgrims started coming into St. Peter's Square about 3:30 a.m. ET (that's 9:30 a.m. in Rome) to get the best place they could. They had anticipated it might be like the funeral for Pope John Paul II, but there weren't quite that many people. Police estimated that the crowd would reach 600,000, including about 100,000 pilgrims from Germany, the new pope's native country.

In an interview with CBS News Correspondent John Roberts, Father Mike Russo from St. Mary's College in California pointed out that the global media attention on Sunday's installation Mass was different from, say, 1963, when Pope Paul VI was crowned with a papal tiara and the emphasis was still one of monarchy.

"That has radically changed now," said Father Russo, "with John Paul I. He called this the installation of the supreme pastor. So, in a sense, it's more biblically correct."

In one of the most symbolic moments of the two-hour Mass, Benedict was given his Fisherman's Ring and a woolen pallium.

Father Paul Robichaud, CBS News consultant and church historian, explained that the pallium (the woolen shawl) represents the good shepherd holding the sheep over his shoulders, carrying him in safely, and the ring is the sign of papal authority.

The pallium is woven out of the wool from lambs and sheep that are raised by Trappist monks not far from Rome. Two pieces of black silk are added on either end, representing the lamb's feet. When the pope wears the pallium, it symbolizes his universal authority and that's done by a series of five red crosses that are embroidered on the pallium. They are meant to represent the wounds of Christ.

Every pope is buried with his pallium.

Benedict, looking tired and coughing several times, was interrupted by applause several times during his homily, particularly when he invoked his predecessor, John Paul II. "And now at this moment, weak servant of God that I am, I must assume this enormous task, which truly exceeds all human capacity," he said.

In one of his first acts, Benedict had invited Rome's chief rabbi to the installation ceremony. The rabbi, Riccardo di Segni, could not attend because of the Passover holiday which began Saturday. Benedict's effort to reach out to the Jews was seen as significant because of his own past. He has acknowledged being a member of Hitler Youth as a teenager and was drafted to serve in the German army.

Even before his official installation as pope, Benedict was framing a papacy meant to dispel his widespread image as the dour guardian of Roman Catholic doctrine, a post he held for 24 years under John Paul.

He has promised to seek greater ties with all Christians and open "sincere dialogue" with other faiths. Already, those pledges and his relaxed manner have softened the rigid reputation.

At the ceremony, the pope was joined by his brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, who received applause at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport after arriving Saturday.

On Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI showed off his language skills in a meeting with journalists but made clear he was not a carbon copy of his media-minded predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

The new pope, reading prepared remarks in four languages, thanked journalists for their coverage during the "historically important" events during the papal transition, urged them to remember their ethical responsibilities and said he hoped to continue his predecessor's tradition of openness with the media.

The meeting with hundreds of journalists in a Vatican auditorium was Benedict's first public audience since his Tuesday election as head of the Roman Catholic Church.

But the session only lasted about 15 minutes, and Benedict did not take questions or meet with individual reporters, in contrast to John Paul, who fielded questions for 40 minutes after reading a prepared speech.

Before the public session, the pope met privately with about a dozen news executives, mainly Italians but also the head of a Polish Catholic news agency, Vatican officials said.

"I hope to follow this dialogue with you, and I share, as Pope John Paul II observed concerning the faith, the development of social communications," the pontiff told more than 1,000 members of the media and pilgrims who assembled in the vast Paul VI auditorium used for weekly general audiences.

Recalling that John Paul had been "a great artisan" of an "open and sincere" dialogue with the media that was started by the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s, Benedict said the media in the modern age has the capacity to reach "the whole of humanity."

"Thanks to all of you, these historically important ecclesial events have had worldwide coverage. I know how hard you have worked, far away from your homes and families for long hours and in sometimes difficult conditions. I am aware of this dedication with which you have accomplished this demanding task," he said.

At the same time, he said, he could not ignore the need for "clear references of the ethical responsibilities" of the media, emphasizing the need for a "sincere search for the truth and the safeguarding of the centrality and the dignity of the person."

He read portions of his speech in Italian, English, French and his native German, joking that "since we are in Rome," he had to return to Italian. Spanish reporters said they were surprised that he said nothing in their language.

Vatican officials had said in recent days that Benedict likely would not take questions and that the meeting was more an audience to greet journalists than a press conference.

"You could say that thanks to your work for so many weeks, the attention of the whole world has been fixed on the basilica, on St. Peter's Square, and on the Apostolic Palace, inside of which my predecessor, the unforgettable John Paul II, serenely ended his earthly existence," the pope said.

Before his remarks, the pope chuckled during a nearly one-minute ovation.

The 78-year-old Benedict is quickly setting the personal tone of his reign — and it's not the distant and strident papacy that many feared because of his long role as the church's watchdog of theology.

There were other signs the world is warming to the German-born pope: a Polish archbishop said Benedict would be invited to his predecessor's homeland in August, and the pope's Vatican e-mail address received more than 56,000 messages in the first two days.