Скачать или смотреть Pope Benedict arrives at Vienna airport

(7 Sep 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Plane taxiing at airport
2. Pope Benedict XVI stepping off plane waving
3. Pope walking down steps, greeting President Heinz Fischer and Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, walking down red carpet into hanger to applause
4. Cut away soldiers standing to attention
5. Pope receiving flowers from children and shaking hands
6. Military band strikes up and pope and president walk down red carpet
STORYLINE
Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the Austrian capital Vienna on Friday for a three-day pilgrimage where he will lead a solemn tribute to Jewish Holocaust victims and extend his "sadness, repentance and friendship" to the Jewish people.
Beginning his seventh foreign trip in two years as pope, the German-born pontiff professed his affection for the mostly Catholic country, telling
Austrians he felt "a vivid sense ... of being at home here in your midst."
"This cultural space in the heart of Europe transcends borders and brings together ideas and energies from various parts of the continent," Benedict told President Heinz Fischer, Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and other dignitaries at a military welcome hastily moved inside an airport hangar due to torrential rain.
Security was tight for Benedict's visit, with more than 3,500 police officers and soldiers and 50 aircraft deployed to protect him.
The Interior Ministry said the measures were taken even before this week's thwarted terrorist plot in Germany.
After an opening ceremony at Vienna's lavish Am Hof square, the Pope will join the capital's Chief Rabbi at the Judenplatz, or Jewish Square, in silent tribute at an austere memorial to Jewish victims of pogroms through the ages.
The spot commemorates not only the 65-thousand Viennese Jews who perished in Nazi death camps, but others who were burned at the stake in the 1400s after they refused to convert.
Before his visit, Benedict's seventh foreign trip in two years as Pope, the German-born Pontiff spoke of his affection for Austria, a mostly Catholic country "which has been near to me since my childhood."
But the pontiff also faces a challenge - many Austrian believers, disgusted by clergy sex scandals and deeply resentful of a government-imposed church tax, have grown cold and tens of thousands have left the church altogether.
The situation is Austria is typical of the difficulties the Vatican confronts across Europe, where cathedrals are empty as increasingly jaded believers question the relevance of faith in the postmodern era.

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