Pope Benedict gives Mass outside Basilica in Mariazell

(8 Sep 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Tilt-down from church to mass gathered to listen to Pope Benedict XVI's mass
2. Wide of choir singing
3. Priest carrying statue of Virgin Mary
4. Medium of pope inside church greeting the masses
5. Wide of pope walking out of church towards outside altar, greeting and blessing people
6. Wide of crowd waving
7. Various medium and close of pope going towards outside altar
8. Crowd cheering and waving
9. Pope blessing the outside altar with incense
10. Wide of choir
11. Medium of people sitting in rain
12. SOUNDBITE (German) Pope Benedict XVI:
"I thank you for waiting in the rain and I thank you for celebrating the joys of faith and passing it on to each other. Vergelts Gott (Austrian way of saying thank you). But now to celebrate our faith, we will start to recollect ourselves."
13. Wide of crowd listening
14.SOUNDBITE (German) Pope Benedict XVI:
"We need an anxious and open heart, it is the essence of our pilgrims. Even today, it is not enough to act and think like everyone else. Our lives are made to go on much wider paths. We need God."
15. Wide of mass
STORYLINE
Pope Benedict XVI made a pilgrimage on Saturday to a famous shrine to the Virgin Mary in Mariazell, Austria, where he celebrated an open-air Mass for more than 30,000 faithful and made a case that faith is still a force for good in Europe.
The pope was taken by car to Mariazell, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of Vienna, after more poor weather on the second day of his Austria visit prompted organisers 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.
Pilgrims in disposable plastic raincoats waved umbrellas and cheered as the pope made its way through Mariazell's cobblestone streets to take his place before an outdoor altar.
In his greeting to the crowd he praised their imperturbability.
"I thank you for waiting in the rain," he 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."
"We need an anxious and open heart, it is the essence of our pilgrims. Even today, it is not enough to act and think like everyone else. Our lives are made to go on much wider paths. We need God", said Pope Benedict.
During his three-day pilgrimage, the pope is reaching out to disillusioned believers in this central European land, once the centre 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's visit concludes on 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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