‘Transform world of pain, return to God’

Pope Benedict XVI took charge of his Church at a majestic inauguration on Sunday and set the tone for his papacy with a plea to humanity to return to God and transform a world he called a desert of pain and poverty.

Three weeks after the death of Pope John Paul II, presidents and pilgrims again packed the cobbled expanse in Front of St. Peter’s Basilica to see the new pontiff installed on the papal throne. Cloaked in golden vestments, Benedict appealed to a crowd estimated at 350,000 for prayers to help him in the ‘‘enormous task that truly exceeds human capacity’’. ‘‘My real programme…. is to listen, together with the whole Church, to the word and the will of the Lord,’’ said Benedict. — Reuters