The Pope’s name and face adorned numerous products over the event including T-shirts bearing the slogan ‘Papa Ben’ and Benedict snow shakers.
Sister Maria Sanchez of Spain said, however, “I think he is embarrassed by the celebrity status, particularly when he is in a church and people shout ‘Papa, Papa’, and the focus is on him rather than on God.
The four-day visit of the Pope to his native homeland of Germany has undoubtedly reserved some of the negative press he has received.
Cardinal Karl Lehmann, head of the German bishops’ conference and often critic of some of the Pope’s views, expressed his delight at the new Pope: “The Pope has swept away much of what has clouded his reputation in this country in recent years.
“I’ve always said he’s not like the Panzerkardinal or Grand Inquisitor or whatever else they call him. He charmed everyone.”
The German media, which has been critical of the Pope’s more dogmatic views, also spoke favourably of the Pope’s handling of the often rowdy crowd and his sensitive meetings with Jews, Protestants and Muslims.
The Neue Presse, a Hannover daily, said: “Of all people, this pope – who rejects everything that youths normally like to do – is accepted by them fully.”
Many Germans, including German Catholics, disapproved of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s election as pope because of his strongly conservative Catholic views which conflict with much of Germany’s liberal and ‘progressive’ self-image.
Christian Linker, head of the German Catholic Youth Association in Cologne said: “I was one of those people who said ‘oh no, are we heading for another Ice Age?’ But he has made some very interesting points. I think we’re in for some surprises.”
One newspaper also commented that the Pope’s reception at World Youth Day indicates more openness to Christianity among youths than realised.
“There is a lot more religious yearning and readiness to attend religious events in Europe than we’ve assumed from looking at the crisis in institutionalised Christianity,” Friedrich Wilhelm Graf, a Protestant theology professor at Munich University, told the left-wing Tageszeitung.
The Mass was held in Marienfeld, a former open-cast mine on the outskirts of Cologne.
