c. 2005 Religion News Service
VATICAN CITY _ Pope Benedict XVI got down to Vatican business on Thursday (April 21) morning and did some personal business in the afternoon, returning to his old apartment to have photographs taken with friends and neighbors.
Benedict returned Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state, and his two top deputies to their posts, the Vatican announced. The secretary of state is the second-highest position in the hierarchy.
Benedict also confirmed the heads of all other Vatican offices for the time being, and asked their assistants to serve out their present five-year terms.
In doing so, Benedict allowed the Vatican to resume normal operations, which were suspended with the death of Pope John Paul II on April 2, but kept his options open.
The one powerful post that remained unfilled was the one that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger himself held for 24 years before he was elected pope _ prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The office polices the faith and morals of the 1.1 billion-member Catholic Church.
For the second day in a row, the new pope returned to 1 Piazza Cittta Leonina, the six-story building outside the Vatican walls where he had lived for the past 24 years.
A small crowd that was waiting applauded and called the pope’s name as he got out of a black Mercedes with the Vatican license plates SCV-1 reserved for the pontiff. Benedict smiled and raised his hands in greeting.
Kelley Sullivan of Groton, Conn., who came to Italy on a trip with students from the St. Bernard High School in Uncasville, Conn., missed his arrival but waited 45 minutes in hopes of seeing the pope emerge from the building.
“It’s our last day and it would be really cool if we got to see him,” she said, snapping photographs of the doorway guarded by 20 security agents, before she gave up to catch her bus. “I want to get to know this guy.”
Sister Claudia Calci, a member of the Cottolingo order who works with the disabled and the elderly in Turin, waited for two hours. She said she knew the new pope had been criticized by some for his conservative views on doctrine. “But now he has a clean page to write on, and let’s see what he does,” she said.
About 20 minutes after Benedict entered his apartment, a group of friends from the neighborhood arrived, followed by the official Vatican photographer, Arturo Mari. The crowd had grown to about 1,000 when Benedict emerged three hours later and again there was long applause. Teenagers chanted his name in Italian, “Benedetto, Benedetto,” in the same cadence they had used to chant “Giovanni Paolo, Giovanni Paolo” three weeks ago.
Looking ahead to the installation ceremony that will formally inaugurate Benedict as pope, the Vatican Office for Liturgical Celebrations said the open-air Mass will be celebrated in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday. Benedict will preside and concelebrate with more than 140 cardinals presently in Rome.
Rome officials predicted half a million people would attend the Mass or watch it on giant television screens set up in streets near the Vatican. Air space over Rome will be closed during the ceremony, echoing the heavy security used to protect President Bush and other world leaders at John Paul’s funeral on April 8.
Some 1,500 German-speaking volunteers will come from Bolzano in the Alto Adige region of northern Italy, which formerly was Austrian territory, to help pilgrims from the pope’s native Bavaria.
The spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, will attend, becoming the first Anglican leader to be present at a papal installation since the Reformation in the 16th century. Williams also attended John Paul’s funeral.
Royalty will include King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain, and the heirs to the thrones of Belgium and Holland. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Horst Koehler will lead the German delegation, and official delegations will come from a number of countries, including Austria, France, Portugal and Hungary.
On Monday, after receiving the official delegations to the Mass, the pope will drive to the tomb of the St. Paul near the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls “to express the inseparable tie” of the Church of Rome with the Apostles Peter and Paul. Peter’s tomb is in the Vatican grottos under the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica.
(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)
Benedict reappointed Sodano, an Italian, and confirmed the posts of Argentine Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, the assistant secretary of state in charge of administration, and Italian Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the assistant secretary who is, in effect, foreign minister.
Sodano, who was named secretary of state by John Paul in December 1990, is 77, two years past the retirement age for all prelates except the pope, who is 78. John Paul did not accept the letter of resignation that Sodano submitted at age 75, but Benedict can act on it if he wants to replace him.
There were no qualifications on the reappointments of Sandri, 61, and Lajolo, 70. Both are members of what is known as the Pontifical Family, the papal household, and serve as consulters to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Sandri has held his post since 1997, and Lajolo since late 2003.
Benedict confirmed the posts of the heads of Curia offices and the president of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City-State, American Cardinal Edmund Szoka. Those appointments were made “donec aliter provideatur” _ Latin for “until other provisions” are made _ which means they can be replaced at the pope’s pleasure.
KRE/PH END POLK
