Pope Benedict XVI made a pilgrimage Saturday to a famous shrine to the Virgin Mary, where he celebrated an open-air Mass in the rain for more than 30,000 believers and called on Europeans to embrace faith.The pope was taken by car to Mariazell, about 90 miles southwest of Vienna, after more poor weather on the second day of his Austria visit prompted organizers to cancel plans to bring him there by army helicopter.
The Archdiocese of Vienna said 33,000 believers were ticketed for the event, and that scores from Eastern Europe — including 70 bishops — were among the crowd, which packed grandstands and a rain-slicked, fog-shrouded square.
In his homily, Benedict called the notion that there is no absolute truth "the crisis of Europe."
"If truth does not exist for man, then neither can he ultimately distinguish between good and evil," the pope said.
"Yet admittedly, in the light of our history, we are fearful that faith in the truth might entail intolerance," he said.
"If we are gripped by this fear, which is historically well-grounded, then it is time to look toward Jesus as we see him in the shrine at Mariazell."
"Because Christianity is more than a moral system, because it is the gift of friendship, for this reason it also contains within itself great moral strength, which is so urgently needed today on account of the challenges of our time," Benedict said.
Although there have been no visions of Mary at Mariazell, it has drawn millions of pilgrims over the centuries, and Benedict said this year's 850th anniversary of its founding was "the reason for my coming."
Austrian media reported that two elderly pilgrims, men aged 83 and 80, died of heart attacks Saturday. "I include them in my prayers," Benedict said.
Security was heavy for the 80-year-old pope's visit to the country of 8.3 million, with more than 3,500 police officers and soldiers deployed to protect him.
The Interior Ministry said the measures were taken even before reports this week of a thwarted terrorist plot in Germany.
Pilgrims in disposable plastic raincoats waved umbrellas and cheered as the popemobile made its way through Mariazell's cobblestone streets and Benedict emerged, wading through the crowd to take his place before an outdoor altar.
In the excitement, the pontiff's 83-year-old brother, Georg — visiting from Germany — was left sitting in the rain for several minutes before someone noticed.
During his three-day pilgrimage, the pope is reaching out to disillusioned believers in this central European land, once the center of a Catholic-influenced empire and now a wealthy but small nation that has seen considerable dissent against the church.
Thousands of Austrian Catholics have formally renounced their church affiliation, citing disgust with clergy sex scandals and a government-imposed church tax.
Benedict began his trip by condemning abortion, and he repeated that theme Saturday, telling pilgrims: "Europe has become child-poor: We want everything for ourselves, and place little trust in the future."
"Where God is, there is the future," he said.
The pope, who honored Jewish victims of the Holocaust on Friday, echoed that as well, saying: "God writes straight even on the crooked lines of our human history."
In a nod to the thousands of faithful from neighboring countries who converged on Mariazell, diocesan Bishop Egon Kapellari greeted believers in the Croatian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Romanian languages.
Some pilgrims walked several miles to reach the Mass site Saturday. But the rain didn't dampen their enthusiasm to pray alongside their pope.
"He is a pilgrim like us," said Sister Michaela Pfeiffer, an Austrian nun. "I am happy that he's coming to share the faith with us."
Benedict's visit concludes Sunday with a Mass at Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral and a visit to the Heiligenkreuz abbey outside the capital.
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