Pope Benedict XVI visits Vienna

Pope Benedict XVI arrived Friday for a three-day pilgrimage to Austria, where he was to pay solemn tribute to Holocaust victims and extend his sadness, repentance and friendship to the Jewish people. Beginning his seventh foreign trip in two years as pope, the German-born pontiff professed his affection for the mostly Catholic country, telling Austrians he felt a vivid sense ... of being at home here in your midst. After an opening ceremony at Vienna's lavish Am Hof square, the pope was to join the capital's chief rabbi at the Judenplatz, or Jewish Square, in silent tribute at an austere memorial to Jewish victims of pogroms through the ages. The spot commemorates not only the 65,000 Viennese Jews who perished in Nazi death camps, but others who were burned at the stake in the 1400s after they refused to convert. In 1938, Vienna'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, Fischer conceded that Austria had dark hours in its history. Benedict told reporters on the flight to Vienna that the stop was intended to "show our sadness, our repentance and our friendship to the Jewish people." Later Friday, at the former imperial Hofburg Palace, Benedict was to address Austrian authorities and foreign diplomats based in Vienna. Benedict said he would use the speech to take another look at our present and our future. 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 100 kilometers 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. (by Reuters: 07/09/2007)