BERLIN ? Pope Benedict XVI launches his first state visit to his native Germany on Thursday with an address to parliament that many lawmakers have vowed to boycott in protest.
On the eve of the pope's arrival, Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to ease tensions among lawmakers who have argued that allowing Benedict to address parliament violates Germany's separation of church and state.
"Our nation, our constitution and our society are largely based on Christian beliefs," Merkel told members of her Christian Democratic party in Berlin.
She expressed the hope the papal visit could give Germans "a sense of orientation in these certainly not easy times."
During his four-day trip, the pope will meet with leaders of Germany's Jewish and Muslim communities, celebrate three Masses in three different places, hold an ecumenical service with Lutheran church members and possibly meet with victims who were abused by priests.
Although polls have indicated many Germans, roughly 30 percent of whom are Roman Catholic, are indifferent to the papal visit ? his third here since Joseph Ratzinger became pope in 2005 ? so many wanted to attend the first Mass, organizers had to move it to Berlin's Olympic stadium. All 70,000 seats are sold out.
Police began blocking off streets Wednesday in the neighborhood where the pope will be staying while in Berlin, and setting up barricades to surround the Reichstag, where parliament meets.
At the same time, the first protesters staged demonstrations in the capital, including two men who dressed as Adolf Hitler and Benedict, and posed in front of parliament before police hauled them away.
Several groups have registered demonstrations to be held in Berlin on Thursday, and in other cities during the pope's visit.
On Friday, Benedict travels to Erfurt, where he will meet with members of Germany's Lutheran church in the monastery where Martin Luther lived as a monk during the 1500s.
From there, he journeys Saturday to more heavily Catholic Freiburg in Germany's southwest, where he will meet church leaders and celebrate a final Mass before returning to Rome on Sunday.
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