Pope Draws More Than 1 Million

Pope Benedict XVI brought his first foreign trip to a triumphant end Sunday with an open-air Mass for 1 million young people, urging the church's next generation to make wise use of the freedom that God has given them.

The sun broke through the thick gray clouds as he spoke from a raised altar above a crowd that seemed to stretch on forever across the Marienfeld, or Mary's Field, outside the western Germany city of Cologne.

"Freedom is not simply about enjoying life in total autonomy, but rather about living by the measure of truth and goodness so that we ourselves can become true and good," he said.

During the four-day visit to the church's World Youth Day festival, his first foreign trip since he was elected April 19, the German-born Benedict showed a public style more subdued than that of his charismatic predecessor, John Paul II, who died April 2.

Benedict avoided some of John Paul's exuberant habits such as kissing the ground on arrival and swaying to the music during public appearances. He read his speeches in a soft voice that was sometimes inaudible in the crowd, smiled shyly and waved as if in amazement at all the attention.

The faithful, however, seemed to love him all the more for his reticent ways and cheered him wildly every time he appeared in public.

Benedict made clear he intends to continue John Paul's efforts to engage in dialogue with Jews and Muslims by holding two major interfaith meetings.

He found warm applause during his visit to Cologne's synagogue, where he warned of rising anti-Semitism and stressed the shared inheritance of Jews and Christians. It was only the second papal visit to a Jewish house of worship, after John Paul's groundbreaking visit to a Rome synagogue in 1986.

His remarks to Muslims, while friendly, were blunter, as he condemned the "cruel fanaticism" of terrorism and stressed Muslim elders' responsibility to educate the younger generation in the ways of peace.

He differed from John Paul by not stressing the church's teaching against premarital sex and condom use, two themes frequently mentioned by John Paul to young people but missing from Benedict's speeches and sermons at the festival. He also did not commit to attending the next World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, 2008.

John Paul, who founded World Youth Day in 1984, would always end the festival by promising to attend the next one.

The trip also reflected Benedict's effort to re-evangelize a secular Europe that he says must return to its Christian roots, a frequent theme in his writings and speeches.

In his homily Sunday, he said there is a "strange forgetfulness of God," while at same time the sense of frustration and dissatisfaction has led to a "new explosion of religion."

"I have no wish to discredit all the manifestations of this phenomenon. There may be sincere joy in the discovery," he said. "Yet, if it is pushed too far, religion becomes almost a consumer product. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it."

"But religion constructed on a 'do-it-yourself' basis cannot ultimately help us. Help people to discover the true star which points out the way to us: Jesus Christ."

He urged young people to take the time to regularly attend Sunday Mass.

"If you make the effort, you will realize that this is what gives a proper focus to your free time," he said.

The crowds listened intently as he spoke in German, English, Italian and French.

Two World Youth Day volunteers were held back by security guards as they tried to touch the pope while he was reading a greeting in several different languages. One succeeded in touching the elbow of the pope, who didn't interrupt his greeting.

The concluding service was an upbeat celebration of the multinational crowd in attendance, accompanied by South American zamponas and charangos, followed by an Indian sitar, African drums, and an Australian didgeridoo.

The people, many of whom had stayed out all night sleeping on the ground to be able to attend, cheered as the pope arrived in his tall, glassed-in popemobile. He got out, wearing a golden miter, and ascended to the altar platform with over 4,000 priests and bishops present to assist in the service.

Cardinal Joachim Meisner, the archbishop of Cologne, paid tribute to the huge crowd and its devotion to the new pope.

"You belong to the youth," he said, "and the youth belongs to you."