Pope Benedict XVI accepted the invitation to attend World Youth Day in Cologne on the day after he was elected last April. In doing so he confirmed the importance of this gathering of one million young Catholics and created expectations that he will set out the agenda for his papacy there. This is a major platform and the world is watching and listening.
Pope Benedict has used the months since his election to establish himself in the Vatican, create the framework for his leadership of the Catholic Church and give himself time to clarify his priorities. His meetings over the next few days with Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders indicate that dialogue with other religions will be at the top of the list. This is both symbolic and substantive. Pope Benedict's lifelong intellectual and theological engagement with his own tradition and its relations with other world religions creates an expectation that he can stimulate progress in these dialogues for the benefit of all involved. Now is the time to hear how he will do it.
The Pope needs a dialogue with critics of Catholic orthodoxy and tradition just as much as with leaders of other religions. His reputation as an unbending upholder of an old-fashioned, authoritarian model of Catholicism during his long tenure as prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith makes this all the more necessary. He has hinted that his papal role will be much more universal and rounded than this, just as his private personality and intellectual distinction belie this stern image. But is he prepared to debate issues of sexuality, the use of condoms to combat HIV/Aids, priestly celibacy and women's vocation to the priesthood with his critics, much less to contemplate changing doctrine in these respects? We will expect to hear more about this in coming days.
The same applies to centralisation of church control and administration and disciplinary issues. These grew apace during Pope John Paul II's long papacy, much to the frustration of the European and American churches - and especially of German ones. It will be interesting to see how German Catholics respond to the Pope's evident joy in making his first visit since his election to his own homeland.
President Horst Köhler welcomed Pope Benedict home yesterday with particular pride for his command of the German intellectual and cultural tradition and his readiness to use it in questioning contemporary liberal and consumerist relativism. There is a genuine expectation that this can now be translated into a wider religious and moral message.