Pope holds Mass in native Bavaria

Pope Benedict says his heart beats "Bavarian"

Pope Benedict XVI has celebrated an outdoor Mass attended by hundreds of thousands of followers in his southern German homeland of Bavaria.

In his homily, the pontiff suggested that the West could learn lessons about faith from people in Asia and Africa.

The Mass, at a fairground near Munich, was one of the highlights of the Pope's six-day visit to Bavaria, which he described as a joyous personal journey.

In the coming days he is due to visit his native village and his brother.

About 250,000 people attended Sunday's Mass near Munich.

The Pope said that in today's world many people were listening to so many frequencies that they "were no longer able to hear God".

He praised people in Africa and Asia for rejecting "the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom and that holds up utility as the supreme moral criterion".

Family visit

The event in Munich will be followed by other open-air Masses in the small town of Alltoeting and in the city of Regensburg.

People in Africa and Asia admire our scientific and technical progress, but at the same time they are frightened by a form of rationality which totally excludes God Pope Benedict XVI

During his trip the pontiff is also due to visit Marktl-am-Inn, the village where he was born.

He will see his brother, retired priest Georg Ratzinger, and together they will go to the graves of their parents and sister.

On his arrival on Saturday Pope Benedict was greeted by Chancellor Angela Merkel and spoke of his love for his homeland, saying: "My heart beats Bavarian."

While he faces a warm welcome from many thousands of Catholics in Germany, some have been critical of his uncompromising condemnation of gay marriage and abortion, the BBC's David Willey says.

Such criticism has tempered German pride in last year's election of the first German Pope for centuries, our correspondent adds.

This is the Pope's second visit to Germany.

He last visited his native country just over a year ago to attend the World Youth Day celebrations in Cologne.

Pope Benedict taught theology in Regensburg from 1969 until becoming archbishop of Munich in 1977, where he stayed until 1982 before being called to work at the Vatican.