ROME - Pope Benedict XVI returned to Rome's cathedral on Thursday for an open-air Mass and procession ?? his third trip to his seat as Rome's bishop since he was named pope last month.
 
Benedict celebrated the evening Mass at St. John Lateran that focused on the Eucharist, which Catholics believe represents the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

The Eucharist is the topic of a national conference in the Adriatic port of Bari that Benedict will attend on Sunday in his first pilgrimage in Italy. It's also the focus of a major meeting of the world's bishops at the     Vatican in October.

It was Benedict's third visit to St. John Lateran since his April 19 election: On May 7 he formally took possession of his seat as bishop of Rome and on May 13 he met with Roman clergy there and announced he was putting     Pope John Paul II on the fast-track for possible sainthood.

After the Mass ended, Benedict boarded a canopied flatbed truck and traveled a short distance to another basilica, St. Mary Major. He knelt in prayer on a raised platform as the white truck slowly made its way to the basilica.