POLAND: A quarter of a million Poles braved lashing rain to celebrate open-air Mass in Warsaw yesterday with Pope Benedict, who used the first homily of his visit to warn Catholics of the "temptations" of moral relativism.
The German pope addressed the crowd on Warsaw's Pilsudski Square, where his predecessor celebrated Mass after his election to the papacy in 1979. Then, Pope John Paul II prayed to "renew the face of this Earth, this land". Yesterday, Pope Benedict recalled that homily and how, during his predecessor's pontificate, "changes occurred in entire political, economic and social systems people . . . regained their freedom and their sense of dignity".
True to his word that this was no sentimental journey, however, the pope warned his audience to beware of those who try to "falsify the word of Christ" and to modify Gospel truths considered "uncomfortable for modern man".
"They try to give the impression that everything is relative: even the truths of faith would depend on the human situation and on human evaluation," he said. "We must not yield to the temptation of relativism or of a subjectivist and selective interpretation of sacred scripture. Only the whole truth can open us to adherence to Christ, dead and risen for our salvation."
This was a continuation of his address ahead of the papal conclave that would elect him, in which he castigated the "dictatorship of relativism" for "not recognising anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires".
Polish commentators suggested that, just as John Paul had directed his attention to bringing about change in eastern Europe, Pope Benedict's anti-relativism position is directed at the lapsed moral values in the West.
"Our Bible scholars like to be more Catholic than the pope himself and believers here adhere to church teachings, such as in bedroom matters, more strictly than the 'rotten' West," said Jan Turnau of Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper. "What we've seen here was the pope landing blows on leaders of the post-Vatican II reforms, Ratzinger's first such blows as pope."
The pontiff went to Our Lady of Czestochowa, a 14th-century shrine known as the Black Madonna, visited regularly by Pope John Paul and by 4.5 million pilgrims annually.
He has been given a friendly reception by crowds who were enthusiastic and curious. The Dziennik newspaper described the welcome as "warm but not John Paul-hot". It said: "Benedict XVI doesn't try to charm the believers with his gesture or words, the way John Paul liked to do. There were no surprises."
The pope arrived in Krakow in the evening. It was here Karol Wojtyla was ordained and where he served as archbishop before leaving for the Vatican.
Crowds gathered outside the archbishop's house where the pope is staying, hoping he would continue the tradition of appearing at the window over the door, as John Paul used to do.
"Young people loved this meeting at the window and loved to chat with him from below. John Paul mentioned it during his farewell visit when he said: 'I'm very thankful to you all for those meetings under the window'," said journalist Katarzyna Kolenda. Pope Benedict didn't disappoint, appearing at the window shortly before 10pm. "Thank you for the cordial welcome," he said in Polish. After a few short prayers, he said goodnight in Italian and vanished, leaving the ecstatic crowd below cheering his name.