Pope Benedict XVI
stepped onto U.S. soil at Andrews Air Force
Base for the time as pontiff Tuesday, arriving to a
presidential handshake and wild cheering only hours
after he admitted that he is ''deeply ashamed'' of the
clergy sex abuse scandal that has devastated the
American church.
Benedict gave
hundreds of spectators a two-handed wave as he stepped off
a special Alitalia airliner that brought him from Rome.
Students from a local Catholic school screamed
ecstatically when they saw the pope, who shook hands
warmly with President Bush, first lady Laura Bush, and their
daughter Jenna on the tarmac.
Hundreds of
onlookers, some from local Roman Catholic parishes, clapped
and shouted as they watched the scene from nearby bleachers.
Benedict tackled
the most painful issue facing the U.S. Catholic Church
-- clergy sex abuse -- on his flight to America. The U.S.
church has paid out $2 billion in abuse reparations
since 1950, most of that in just the last six years.
Seemingly in a
nod to his American flock, the pope spoke in English as he
answered questions submitted in advance by reporters.
''It is a great
suffering for the church in the United States and for the
church in general and for me personally that this could
happen,'' Benedict said. ''It is difficult for me to
understand how it was possible that priests betray in
this way their mission ... to these children.''
''I am deeply
ashamed, and we will do what is possible so this cannot
happen again in the future,'' the pope said.
Benedict pledged
that pedophiles would not be priests in the Catholic
Church.
''I do not wish
to talk at this moment about homosexuality, but about
pedophilia, which is another thing,'' he said.
''We will
absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry. It
is more important to have good priests than many
priests. We will do everything possible to heal this
wound.''
Gary Bergeron,
who was molested by a priest in the 1970s in Lowell,
Mass., called the comments a ''step I've been looking for.''
Bergeron said he was disappointed that Benedict did
not plan to visit the archdiocese of Boston, the scene
of a case that sparked the greater scandal, but urged
the pontiff to meet with victims this week.
The pope's
promise failed to mollify other advocates for abuse victims,
however. They said the problem is not just molester priests,
but bishops and other church authorities who have let
errant clergymen continue to serve even after repeated
allegations.
''It's easy and
tempting to continually focus on the pedophile priests
themselves,'' said Peter Isely, a board member of the
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. ''It's
harder but crucial to focus on the broader problem --
complicity in the rest of the church hierarchy.''
Benedict's
pilgrimage is the first trip by a pontiff to the United
States since the Boston case in 2002 triggered a
crisis that spread throughout the United States and
beyond. Hundreds of new charges -- many dating back
decades -- have surfaced each year since. There were 691 new
accusations in 2007 alone, according to an annual
report from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
As head of the
Vatican agency that enforces adherence to Catholic
doctrine, Benedict, who was then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,
was heavily involved in gaining Vatican approval for
the reforms U.S. bishops proposed for the American
church. The bishops have since released several
reports analyzing the scandal and have pledged that all
credibly accused priests will be pulled from public
ministry.
Benedict
described his pilgrimage as a journey to meet a ''great
people and a great church.'' He spoke about the
American model of religious values within a system of
separation of church and state.
President Bush
made the unusual gesture of greeting Benedict at Andrews
Air Force Base _ the first time he has welcomed a foreign
leader there. The two were set to meet again
Wednesday, when a crowd of 9,000 or more was expected
at the White House to greet Benedict on his 81st
birthday.
Aides say he is
in good health and the pope seemed spry as he stepped
energetically off the plane Tuesday.
Benedict said he
will discuss immigration with Bush, including the
difficulties of families who are separated by immigration.
While the pope
and Bush differ on such major issues on the Iraq war,
capital punishment, and the U.S. embargo against Cuba, they
do find common ground in opposing abortion, gay
marriage, and embryonic stem cell research.
White House press
secretary Dana Perino said she wouldn't rule out the
topic of sex abuse being discussed between the pope and
the president, but added that it's not necessarily one
of Bush's top priorities in his meeting with Benedict.
Perino said the
two leaders would likely discuss human rights, religious
tolerance, and the fight against violent extremism. She
downplayed their differences over Iraq.
Benedict ''will
hear from the president that America and the world need
to hear his message, that God is love, that human life is
sacred, that we all must be guided by common moral
law, and that we have responsibilities to care for our
brothers and sisters in need, at home and across the
world,'' Perino said.
After making
little headway in his efforts to rekindle the faith in his
native Europe, the German-born Benedict is visiting a
country where many of the 65 million Catholics are
eager to hear what he says and get to know him. A poll
released Sunday by the Center for Applied Research in
the Apostolate at Georgetown University found eight in 10
Catholics are somewhat or very satisfied with his
leadership.
Benedict is
scheduled to visit U.N. headquarters on Friday to meet with
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and to address the General
Assembly.
Ban said he is
looking forward to a wide-ranging discussion with the
pontiff on issues ranging from climate change and fighting
poverty to disarmament and promoting cultural
dialogue.
''We are now
facing many challenges these days,'' Ban told reporters.
''We need really strong spiritual support from the pope.''
The pope's visit
will be the fourth by a leader of the Roman Catholic
Church to the United Nations: Paul VI came in 1965 when the
U.N. celebrated its 20th anniversary; John Paul II
came in 1979 at the start of his pontificate and again
in 1995 for the U.N.'s 50th anniversary. (Victor L.
Simpson, AP)