Stara Boleslav, Czech Republic - More than 50,000 people gathered Monday at a field near Stara Boleslav, north-east of Prague, to join Pope Benedict XVI in a mass celebrating St Wenceslas, the Czech patron saint. The pope was ending his three-day pastoral visit to the Czech Republic at the pilgrimage site, marking a holiday dedicated to the Czech martyr.
In the year that marks two decades since the fall of Europe's atheist Communist regimes that stifled religion, the pope chose to rally believers in the ex-Communist country where non-believers greatly outnumber churchgoers.
After urging Czechs to rediscover their Christian traditions upon arrival on Saturday, he repeated his message of faith in the largely secular Central European country of 10.4 million.
The pope told the crowd on Monday that a life without God would not satisfy them.
"Those who denied and continue to deny God, and in consequence have no respect for man, appear to have a comfortable life and to be materially successful," he said. "Yet one need only to scratch the surface to realize how sad and unfulfilled these people are."
On his mission to revive Czech faith, the 82-year-old pontiff then used the example of the nation's patron saint.
"Wenceslas died as a martyr for Christ," he said. "It is interesting to note that, by killing him, his brother Boleslav succeeded in taking possession of the throne of Prague, but the crown placed on the heads of his successors did not bear his name. Rather, it bears the name of Wenceslas."
Wenceslas was a 10th-century Czech duke who promoted Christianity in the Czech lands. His brother had him murdered in Stara Boleslav on September 28 in the year 935.
The pilgrims said that the papal visit provided them with a sense of community in a country where distrust in organized religion is deeply ingrained.
"The crowd left me feeling that I am not alone in faith. Every day people are persuading us that it is obsolete," said Klara Bednarova, 18, a high school student from Pardubice, a city 110 kilometres east of Prague.
Veronika Cizkova, 17, a secondary school student from north- eastern city of Ostrava was also optimistic, "Perhaps people, those who do not believe, will change their mind and will not hold grudges against the church."
On his final day, Benedict first paid tribute in a local church to the relics of St Wenceslas.
"He is a symbol of the Czech statehood. A symbol of faith," said Jaroslava Havrankova, 58, a small grocery store owner, who limped to the field with the help of crutches due to a recently broken her leg.
"People were discouraging me from it after my leg surgery,"
