TEN kilometres above the earth, the Pope delivered a message to the people of Sydney: the world is God's creation and humanity needs to safeguard it against the ravages of climate change. His message, unexpected and delivered in Italian, called for a spiritual response to the environmental crisis and asked Catholics - especially young people - to find "a way of living, a style of life that eases the problems caused to the environment".
"We need to rediscover our earth in the face of our God and creator and to re-find our responsibilities in front of our maker and the creatures of the earth he has placed in our hands in trust," he said.
"We need to reawaken our conscience … I want to give impulse to rediscovering our responsibilities and to finding an ethical way to change our way of life and ways to respond to these great challenges."
As the Pope's jet emerged from heavy grey cloud and landed at Richmond RAAF base at 3pm yesterday, adults and young pilgrims beeped and waved from paddocks, and even high in trees. Cameras flashed in cars and Australian and Italian flags waved in the breeze.
Pope Benedict, the spiritual leader of 5 million Australian Catholics and 1 billion worldwide, arrived to rejuvenate the faith in Australia. He brought with him an apology to the faithful for sexual abuse by priests.
He did not kiss the tarmac as Pope John Paul II did during his visit in 1995 to beatify Mary MacKillop. Instead, after his 23-hour flight from Rome, the longest foreign trip of his papacy, he briskly descended the stairs of his aircraft, Shepherd I.
He was greeted by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, the Premier, Morris Iemma, and the Deputy Premier, John Watkins, whose two governments have committed $160 million to staging World Youth Day.
The Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, the driving force behind Sydney's bid for World Youth Day celebrations, kissed the Pope's ring in greeting and welcomed him on behalf of Sydney and its Catholics.
It took less than an hour for Alitalia Flight 4000 to reach cruising altitude, and about 11am Italian time a whisper came from the front of the plane. Within a minute or two, the pontiff emerged into the economy cabin, where the 44-strong Vatican press contingent was seated.
Dressed in the traditional white papal vestments and red shoes - and accompanied by his Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, he spoke while standing in the space in front of the in-flight movie screens. He spoke for a little less than 20 minutes and answered no spontaneous questions. The five he answered had been chosen from scores of questions submitted in writing by the media and vetted, chosen and assigned 24 hours before by the Pope's director of media, Father Federico Lombardi.
The Pope appeared surprisingly hesitant in his delivery as he struggled to express complex and controversial issues of faith in two languages, neither of which is his mother tongue, German. And, despite the powerful sentiments expressed by his words, he appeared to find it difficult to infuse the delivery with his own character.
Speaking in English only for the questions assigned to two Australian journalists, he said he wanted to make a statement of sorrow for the victims of sexual abuse, echoing the statements of healing and reconciliation he made during his visit to the US in April.
He categorically rejected any notion of a Catholic doctrine of proportionality, or notion of degree, saying: "Pedophilia is always bad."
But the his strongest words were to the youth of the world, who he challenged to adopt less environmentally damaging ways of life.
The Herald has learnt that he has taken steps towards achieving this at the Vatican. Solar cells are to be installed to convert the roof of the Pope Paul VI Auditorium at the Vatican - an enormous hall that can hold 7000 people - into a power hub to produce renewable energy for the tiny city-state.
"Clearly, you cannot do this in the Vatican gardens. You certainly cannot put them on the dome …" Father Lombardi said. "This is a vast space, I don't have the exact size or details with me but it certainly is the best place to do this."
A feasibility study has also begun to assess another site - a 400-hectare country property outside Rome owned by the Vatican and used for agriculture and for Vatican TV transmitters.
Father Lombardi said this was also a possible site for more solar cells. "In this area we need to weigh up the benefits and the impact, too, as much of that land is used for farming, too," he said.
A carbon offset company has established a forest in Hungary which has been calculated specifically to be large enough to offset the Vatican's estimated carbon footprint.
During the flight to Australia, when the Pope spoke about sexual abuse, he said: "The first dimension is our moral teaching - we must be clear and it has always been clear from the very first centuries - that being a priest is incompatible with this behaviour because being a priest is the service of our Lord … our Lord is very clear on this.
"If there was insufficient education and teaching, if in the '50s, '60s and '70s there was an idea of proportionality … there is never such a thing as proportionality … pedophilia is always bad. I want to clarify that."
The Pope said that it was important that the education of seminarians and new priests reflected this.
The Pope was also asked if he had a message to deliver to the Anglican Bishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, as he prepared for the Lambeth conference next week.
The Pope made clear that, while he would not involve himself in the affairs of the Anglican Church, he offered his solidarity to the traditionalists who opposed having female bishops and recognising same-sex relationships. Answering in Italian he said his "essential contribution would be prayer" and that he hoped sincerely that the debate at Lambeth would be able to find a way to avoid "further schism and fractures".
"We cannot, we must not intervene in their discussions and their responsibilities we respect. Our hope is they can find new solutions to their responsibilities in their faith and in the words of the liturgy … because these two things must go together.
"The words and the message of Christ are what offer the real contribution [to Lambeth] and only in being faithful to the message and only in being faithful to God's words can we find a mature way, a creative way a faithful way to find a road together …"
Asked too if he was concerned about faith in Europe and Australia, the Pope said he did not feel pessimism. "I will do my best to answer in English. I think that Australia, in its historical configuration economically and politically is part of the [Western] world and so shares also the successes and problems of the rest of the Western world.
"Australia in the last 50 years, has had great economical and technological successes and religion has been relegated … people have said, 'We don't need God, religion it is not necessary. We do not need God to be happy, we do not need God to create a better world. It is not necessary; we can do it ourselves.'
"But God always exists, and religion always exists. It is needed, it is a part of human beings. It can never disappear as it is always present in the heart of human beings."
Throughout the flight, as is traditional, the Vatican delivered a message to the leaders of the nations he flew over during the Rome to Sydney flight.
He called on young people to work towards unified goals of humanity and offered prayers for Afghanistan, Armenia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, India and Malaysia.
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