GERMANY: Against the imposing backdrop of Cologne's austere Gothic cathedral, framed in the bright evening sunshine, Pope Benedict XVI sailed up the mighty Rhine river yesterday for a homecoming that was nothing if not theatrical.
The pope, on his first foreign trip since his election in April, had travelled to Cologne to attend four days of the Catholic youth festival, World Youth Day.
Wherever he went yesterday he was given a rapturous reception by many of the 400,000 young people who had poured into the city, whether on arrival at Cologne airport or sailing up the Rhine or, indeed, walking around the Roncalliplatz outside the cathedral after alighting from the riverboat.
At a windy Cologne airport, young people greeted him with the infamous Mexican wave, much beloved of football crowds.
As his boat sailed up the Rhine, thousands cheered and clapped from the river banks, with many wading into the shallow water making the Rhine look like, for one afternoon at least, Europe's answer to the Ganges.
When the pope arrived at the airport, federal president Horst Koehler greeted him warmly: "We are glad to see you. We are delighted that your first official visit has brought you here to Germany."
In a speech that may have anticipated some of the themes of the next three days, the president said that as a Protestant he was "very much moved" by the election of a German pope 60 years after the second World War. He called it a "source of confidence after the end of the inhuman and ungodly ideology which prevailed in Germany".
Offering a snap preview of a visit during which he will meet Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders as well as the Catholic hierarchy, Pope Benedict said: "These meetings are important steps along the journey of dialogue and co-operation in our shared commitment to building a more just and fraternal future."
Marking a difference between himself and his charismatic predecessor, John Paul II, Pope Benedict did not get down and kiss the ground on his arrival at Cologne airport, where a blustery wind blew off his white skull cap and brought his papal cape billowing into his face.
In three different speeches yesterday the pope outlined another of the major themes of the visit when he made reference to Cologne's rich Christian tradition and highlighted the extent to which that tradition "helped Europe grow from Christian roots".
Speaking to journalists yesterday senior Vatican spokesman Jaoquín Navarro-Valls suggested that this pope laid much emphasis on "the word", adding that this will be a pontificate of "concepts and words".
Given that he is due to meet Jewish community leaders today, the significance of the words on a plaque on the Rhine river bank, just across from where his boat moored last night, will not be lost on Pope Benedict: "From this place, thousands of men, women and children were sent to their deaths [ in concentration camps]."