Benedict XVI, Star

At 9:50 a.m., the hypnotic toll of a single giant bell announces his arrival. The drowsy activity of some one million young Catholic pilgrims suddenly snaps to attention across a giant field where they've camped out through the damp and chilly night. The image of Benedict XVI in his popemobile appears on the giant video screens. He is somewhere here, in this gathering of Woodstock scope called World Youth Day, 15 miles outside of Cologne. Some cheer the sight on the screen, others clasp their hands in prayer. There are also plenty who seem to simply gravitate toward the physical presence of their Holy Father—some running in the direction of the faraway stage, others walking in a head-up, open-mouth trance. Whether he likes it or not, Pope Benedict XVI is a star. He the first pontiff elected in the full throes of the information age, and his predecessor's sense of spectacle consecrated a natural marriage between this ancient office and the modern media.

Still, it has been plainly evident over the past four days of Benedict's first foreign voyage that this is a very different Pope. The mood at a Saturday evening vigil and this Sunday morning closing Mass was warm, both amongst fellow pilgrims from dozens of countries—and toward their new leader maximus. Still, it will take time for Benedict to fully capture the imagination of the faithful. John Mertes, a 33-year-old lay youth minister from Mary, Mother of Church in Burnsville, Minnesota said that "John Paul is a tough act to follow." Observing Benedict in Cologne, Mertes says, it is clear that he isn't "out there" like his predecessor. "We've got to cut him some slack, give him some time to grow into the persona. It's a question of comfort level. But we've been praying for him to be ok in this role." Mertes, who admitted that Pope Ratzinger's doctrinal approach is "too conservative" for his tastes, is encouraged that he may be softening a bit in the new job. "He's the Vicar. He's the Pope, and we must move forward together as the body of Christ" said Mertes, standing on a muddy patch of turf in his Minnesota Twins shirt. "I have an open mind, I hope he does too." But others don't want the Pope to give any ground. Derek Smith, 23, a student at St. Thomas College in Houston, likes that Benedict "doesn't mince words." "It's what we young people need. There are moral absolutes, and they need to be enforced, otherwise you have anarchy."

Many of the young people echoed an appreciation for the clarity and candidness of Benedict's sermons. His explanation Sunday for how the Eucharist was born in the death of Jesus is both plain and poignant. "What is happening? How can Jesus distribute his Body and his Blood? By making the bread into his Body and the wine into his Blood, he anticipates his death, he accepts it in his heart and he transforms it into an action of love. What on the outside is simply brutal violence, from within becomes an act of total self-giving love." Still, however well-stated, this passage is not an obvious quote for a newspaper story. And though his delivery is engaging, Benedict doesn't twist and turn with emotion for the television cameras. He is, in other words, not a natural media star. Though his unique role as the only world leader with a worldwide following will continue to demand attention, it will naturally be a different kind of attention than the man he succeeds.