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Stefano Rellandini / Reuters
Pope Benedict XVI arrives to conduct mass to open the year of faith at the Vatican October 11, 2012.
Stefano Rellandini / Reuters
Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to conduct mass.
Bishops walk in a solemn procession through St Peter's Square as they arrive for a mass led by the pontiff.
Bishops from around the world gather for the mass.
Stefano Rellandini / Reuters
A Swiss guard stands before the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI.
Pope Benedict opened a global "Year of Faith" as he conducted mass in St. Peter's Square on Thursday, Agence France Presse reports. The Vatican is celebrating the 50th anniversary of a council that changed the face of Catholicism, as it tries to rekindle the religious fervor of the time amid rising secularism.
A Pew Research Center study released Tuesday found that one in five Americans is religiously unaffiliated, including one in three adults under 30.
Read a transcript of the Pope's homily at The National Catholic Register.
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