On his first foreign trip as Pope, the 78-year-old pontiff broke with the tradition set by his Polish mentor of kissing the tarmac — paying tribute to a guest nation — before shaking the hands of presidents and kings.

Instead fate — or as one television commentator had it, the Holy Ghost — sent a gust of wind to lift the Pope’s skull cap from his silver hair and send it spinning across Cologne airport. The bareheaded Pope continued with the ceremonies, a slight, professorial figure who has said that he is determined to make modesty a trademark of his papacy.

He has a different style from John Paul II and is determined to take some of the charisma out of the papacy, hoping to shift the attention of young people more firmly to the figure of Jesus Christ. “We are all together under one star — the star of faith, Jesus Christ — which unites us and shows us the common way,” he said.

The pilgrimage is being presented under the banner of reconciliation.

Starting with a visit to a synagogue today, the Pope wants to show that the Church is open to dialogue with Jews and Muslims.

Recently he failed to criticise Palestinian attacks on Israelis, and there was a swirl of criticism from Jewish communities and fears that the German-born Pope, who did compulsory service as a Hitler Youth, may stand back from the fight against anti-Semitism.

But Vatican sources said that he would emphatically affirm this part of the papal mission over the coming days — as well as his desire for an open Church.

His main message yesterday was to motivate and enthuse young Catholics gathered for the church’s World Youth Day festival and there was no mistaking the readiness of the pilgrims to make a modern hero out of the new Pope.

As he floated down the Rhine on a sniper-proofed ferry, hundreds of thousands of young Catholics from 197 countries spilled along the embankment.

“Be-ne-det-to!” they chanted. Again and again the Pope raised his hand to quieten the crowds, like a teacher facing down a slightly unruly classroom.

The pilgrims had been camping out for four days in Ikea storerooms, where they had to assemble their own beds, and even in mosques.

The scene often resembled a benign but unwashed and often raucous football gathering.

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