POPE BENEDICT XVI used his first day in office yesterday to try to dispel his reputation as a doctrinaire hardliner with a kinder, gentler image.

In the first speech of his papacy, he sought to reassure anxious Roman Catholic liberals with an agenda embracing dialogue with other faiths, ecumenism and “social development”.

At the same time, his deputy on the doctrinal enforcement committee, of which the new Pope used to be head, suggested that the world had the wrong impression of the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

“Where did the tough guy image come from? It’s a myth,” Father Joseph Augustine di Noia said. “As with all myths, once the people see him and he talks, they are going to say: ‘What we thought about this man was not true.’ ”

Setting out his vision for his papacy as he celebrated his first Mass as pontiff in the Sistine Chapel, Pope Benedict told the cardinals who elected him on Tuesday that he would reach out to other religions such as Islam — provided that there was “reciprocity” — and continue to implement the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

In gold and white vestments, seated before Michelangelo’s Last Judgment and speaking in Latin, the man who once dismissed other Christian churches as improper said that his primary task was to work to reunify all Christians and that sentiment alone was not enough.

“Concrete acts that enter souls and move consciences are needed,” he said. He wanted “an open and sincere dialogue” with other religions and would do everything to promote the ecumenical cause, a reference not only to Anglicans but also to Orthodox Christians.

He said that he was reaching out also to “those who are simply searching for an answer to the fundamental questions of existence and have not yet found it”.

He backed John Paul II’s “purification of memory”, or apologies for church errors, a policy that he is said to have criticised privately as a cardinal.

The Pope told the cardinals that he felt inadequacy and human turmoil at his election, which has been welcomed by traditionalists.

Later he made his first foray out of the Vatican to visit his former apartment just outside the Vatican walls. He was surrounded by a crowd shouting “Viva il Papa”. The Italian authorities expect 500,000 pilgrims in Rome for the Pope’s inaugural Mass on Sunday.

The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, echoed Father Di Noia’s view that the new Pope “may well turn out to be a man of surprises”.

A noted progressive, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said of Pope Benedict: “When he was head of the Doctrine of the Faith, he had a particular task to do — to uphold the faith. Now he is Pope, it is entirely different.”

He said that the Pope had chosen the name Benedict to symbolise peace and reconciliation. Pope Benedict XV sought peace during the First World War and St Benedict is the patron saint of Europe.

The Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, likewise cautioned against “caricaturing the Holy Father and putting labels on this man of the Church”.

Details began to emerge yesterday of how Cardinal Ratzinger had won the election on the fourth ballot because liberal cardinals were unable to agree on a single candidate and swung to the conservative favourite as their own campaign crumbled.

In the first three rounds of voting, “progressive” cardinals — who were in a minority — had mostly voted for Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the former Archbishop of Milan, but also for Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the present Archbishop of Milan, and Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, the Archbishop of Florence. Some may also have gone to Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Patriarch of Venice, and Third World candidates.

Meanwhile Cardinal Ratzinger’s support increased to the point where Cardinal Martini advised his backers to end their opposition for the sake of unity.

Vatican insiders said that Cardinal Ratzinger had made a deep impression at Pope John Paul II’s funeral, and again at the Mass in St Peter’s before the conclave opened on Monday, where he emphasised the need for doctrinal orthodoxy in the face of “the modern currents rocking the small boat of Christian thought”. Many cardinals saw that homily as proof that Cardinal Ratzinger was a man who could defend the Church in troubled times and provide continuity after John Paul II’s death.

Cardinal Luigi Poggi, an Italian, said: “That was the moment when many of my brother cardinals looked at each other and said: ‘It’s him, it’s obvious.’ ”Cardinal Poggi, who is over 80, ineligible to vote but in close touch with those who did, said that Cardinal Ratzinger’s homily on Monday had been interpreted by some as a final warning from the late Pope’s doctrinal “enforcer”.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said: “When we went into the conclave, no one was sure who was going to be elected. But once a pope is elected you have a sense of continuity, solidarity and affirmation of faith.”

He added that, on the fourth ballot, when Cardinal Ratzinger achieved a two-thirds majority, “there were gasps and everybody clapped. Cardinal Ratzinger had his head down, so he must have said a prayer. I couldn’t see his face, but he could not have been unaware that this was likely to happen.”

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