Pope in Poland

Poland gave German-born Pope Benedict a warm but sparse reception yesterday as he began a visit to honour his predecessor John Paul and help banish lingering ghosts of "that tragic tyranny" of Nazi terror.

The new conservative government turned out in force to welcome him at the airport and thousands of waiting Poles burst into cheers and applause when Pope Benedict, 79, started addressing them in clear, slightly accented Polish.

There were noticeably fewer people lining the streets in Warsaw than the hundreds of thousands who used to turn out for Pope John Paul's triumphal visits to his homeland. Police estimated some 70,000 watched Pope Benedict pass in his white pope-mobile.

In deference to Polish and Jewish sensitivities, Pope Benedict will avoid speaking German for most of the four-day trip, except when he prays at the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz on Sunday.

"I have come to follow in the footsteps of his life, from his boyhood until his departure for the memorable conclave of 1978," Pope Benedict said of Pope John Paul in his greeting in Polish.

Continuing in Italian, the language of the Vatican, he said the trip was "no mere sentimental... but rather a journey of faith, a part of the mission entrusted to me by the Lord".

His trip will take him to cities and shrines dear to Pope John Paul and it will end in southern Poland at Auschwitz, where 1.5 million people, many of them Jews, were killed during World War Two.

"I hope especially to meet the survivors of the Nazi terror who come from different countries, all of whom suffered under that tragic tyranny," he said.