'Being good is not boring'

Pope Benedict told Roman Catholics yesterday that being good was not boring and urged people to reject the idea that they were missing out if they did not sin.

The 78-year-old German Pope made his comments in a homily for thousands of people in St Peter's Basilica on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a national holiday in many Catholic countries.

"The suspicion emerges in us that a person who does not sin is, after all, boring; that something is missing from his life: the dramatic dimension of being free," he said.

"We think that bargaining with evil, reserving ourselves a little freedom against God, is, after all, good or even necessary. But looking at the world around us we can see that this is not so," he said.

Since his election last April, the Pope's homilies have been mostly spiritual and religious in nature, largely steering clear of political controversy.

The Pope, who was the Vatican's doctrinal chief for nearly 25 years before he became Pope, has been using his new position to remind Catholics of the basic tenets of their faith.

The Immaculate Conception refers to the Roman Catholic Church's infallible doctrine, proclaimed in 1854, that Mary, the Mother of God, was conceived without the stain of original sin.

The Pope's first encyclical, due to be issued in the next few weeks, deals with one's personal relationship with God.

An encyclical is the highest form of papal writing addressed to all members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Yesterday also marked the 40th anniversary of the close of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council.

The Council was a major gathering of bishops that modernised the Church, discontinued the old-style Latin Mass in favour of services in local languages, and opened the Church up to dialogue with other religions, particularly with Jews.