Those close to Benedict XVI have insisted that they do not recognise the warm, spiritual man that they know in the media’s portrait of a ruthless reactionary all too ready in his previous role as doctrinal enforcer to stamp out dissent.

He did not help himself with his smug smile when he walked out on to the balcony of St Peter’s for the first time, and certainly he seemed to lack the charisma of his predecessor.

Yet in yesterday’s eloquent homily he revealed for the first time to a wider world what the cardinals suspected all along.

Even in translation, his words were compelling, and even John Paul II, for all his powers of communication, did not have this command of language.

“We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and death; in a sea of darkness without light,” the Pope said. “The net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of death and brings us into the splendour of God’s light, into true life.”

This is the language of eschatology and of revelation. In a time of relativism, doubt and diffidence on matters of faith, it is thrilling in its potential to inspire.

The Roman Catholic Church in the West is in crisis. Falling congregations, declining numbers entering the priesthood, the damage done by paedophile priests and their episcopal protectors have all combined to rock the Church.

John Paul II was a powerful presence on the world stage, yet even he failed to halt the decline.

The new Pope’s defenders — thin on the ground until now, and dominated by a predictable clique of white men, middle-aged or older — have argued that what is needed is an orthodox upholder of Christian fundamentals to put all this to rights, to reverse the liberalising secularism that has infected the Church and brought it low, theologically and morally.

If his command of language is any guide, this Pope has the power to transcend nationalities, faiths and conflicts to give a spiritual lead to a world desperately in need of one.

The gift of tongues is, after all, one of the most significant listed by St Paul.

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