Pope Focuses On Future Of American Church

Pope Benedict XVI Offers Support To Clergy And Young Catholics In Moving Beyond Scandals

(CBS/AP)  Pope Benedict XVI focused on the future of his American church Saturday as he marked the third anniversary of his election as pontiff, rallying young people, priests and seminarians and assuring them of his support as they dealt with the damage from the clergy sex abuse scandal.

On a highly personal day, Benedict spoke of suffering under Nazism in his youth and, at another point, touched on his own "spiritual poverty." He added that he hoped to be a worthy successor to St. Peter, considered the first pope.

Benedict began the day with a Mass at St. Patrick's cathedral, the landmark Roman Catholic church on Fifth Avenue. The building was packed with cardinals and bishops, priests and nuns, who cheered him to mark the day he succeeded Pope John Paul II on April 19, 2005.

The German-born pope lamented that what he called "the joy of faith" was often choked by cynicism, greed and violence. Yet he drew an analogy to show how faith can overcome distractions and trials.

"The spires of St. Patrick's Cathedral are dwarfed by the skyscrapers of the Manhattan skyline, yet in the heart of this busy metropolis they are a vivid reminder of the constant yearning of the human spirit to rise to God," he said.

In America, he has said repeatedly, the religious intensity stands out in marked contrast to the tepid spiritual emphasis in his native Europe. That makes the U.S. a testing ground for him in his bid to counter secular trends in the world.

He also returned Saturday to the sex abuse scandal that he said has caused "so much suffering" for the American church, assuring his audience "of my spiritual closeness as you strive to respond with Christian hope to the continuing challenges that this situation presents."

It was the fourth time he has spoken of the scandal since beginning his first papal pilgrimage to the U.S. on Tuesday. While in Washington, he met with a small group of victims from the Boston Archdiocese, where the scandal boiled over in 2002. It was believed to be the first time a pope had met with victims of clerical sex abuse.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi, meeting with reporters Saturday, was asked if the scandal had dominated the agenda of the trip. He denied that, saying it was part of the central theme of the entire visit, "to give hope to the church in the United States."

Benedict later was driven to St. Joseph's Seminary in nearby Yonkers, for a rally with young Catholics and seminarians. Upon arriving he blessed about 50 disabled youngsters in the seminary chapel. Two small girls gave him a painting and a hug.

The pope got a hero's welcome at the youth rally from a festive crowd of 25,000, which burst into wild cheers when Benedict first acknowledged them from the stage. The shy theologian took time to reach out and shake hands with the ecstatic faithful in the front rows. The youngsters, meanwhile, sang "Happy Birthday" to him - he turned 81 on Wednesday - in his native German.

During his speech at the rally, Benedict reflected on the repression of his own youth under Nazism. He urged the young people and seminarians to carry on the faith while enjoying the liberties that they were fortunate to have.

"My own years as a teenager were marred by a sinister regime that thought it had all the answers," he said making a rare reference to his own life. "Its influence grew - infiltrating schools ands civic bodies, as well as politics and even religion - before it was fully recognized for the monster it was."

As the busy day wore on, Benedict showed signs of tiring. His secretary reminded him to give his greetings in Spanish at the youth rally.

"I forgot my Spanish," the pope said with a chuckle. And the crowd laughed.

At the end of the St. Patrick's service, Benedict was clearly moved when his top assistant, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, read a tribute for the third anniversary.

Benedict told the crowd of 3,000 that "I am deeply thankful" for the support they showed him, and for "your love, your prayers." The pope said that he, like St. Peter, was a "man with his faults."

The Rev. Michael Morris, a professor of church history at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, where a youth rally was organized for the pontiff Saturday, attended the Mass, and was among those cheering "Viva il Papa!" as Benedict passed by.

Morris, 47, credits John Paul's 1979 trip to the United States with drawing him toward the priesthood. He hoped Benedict's visit would inspire young men today to do the same.

"I think it was a wonderful boost for priests and religious," said Morris, speaking about the clergy, nuns and brothers in religious communities.

"We're encountering a whole new generation that is very fervent and in many ways more heroic," he said. "They've been through the scandal and they still want to serve."

Benedict himself, on the flight to America from Rome, said as he addressed the scandal that it was more important to have "good priests than to have many priests."

CBS News correspondent Byron Pitts reports that the shinking number of priest is an ongoing concern for the American Catholic church.

Today there are 17,000 fewer Catholic priests in America than there were in 1965. Of the nation's 18,600 parishes, 3,238 do not have a resident pastor.

St. Joseph's Seminary, where today's rally was held, once taught seminarians by the hundreds. Today ther are just 22 students. Most of the classrooms here are virtually empty.

"The number of Catholic priest in this country over ninety exceeds the number of under thirty," said Paul Lakeland, the chairman of the department of religious studies at Connecticut's Fairfield University.

But when Pitts spoke to Father Luke Sweeney, the director of vocations for the Archdiocese of New York if he thought these waning numbers meant trouble for the church, Sweeney's response was optimistic.

"I say that Jesus started with 12 and now we have a billion plus catholics right now."

Upon arriving at St. Patrick's, the pontiff was met outside by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, while former Mayor Rudy Giuliani was inside.

Giuliani received Holy Communion during the service from one of the many clergy who offered the sacrament. That raised some eyebrows since Giuliani has been married three times and supports abortion rights. Catholics who divorce and remarry without getting an annulment from the church cannot receive Communion. Giuliani did receive an annulment after his first marriage.

Benedict blessed the cathedral with holy water before making his way to the altar of the landmark church. As the pope walked down the center aisle, nuns clutched at his robes, showing an enthusiasm for his presence that has spread among the general public.

The Vatican said the pope came outside from his residence on the Upper East Side on Friday night to greet a crowd of more than 500 people who had lined up for hours. He shook hands and blessed the crowd before returning inside.

On Sunday, the final day of his trip, the pope will visit ground zero to lead prayers, and later will celebrate a Mass at Yankee Stadium.

After the St. Patrick's service a roar went up from the crowd when the popemobile passed along Fifth Avenue, with people raising up their babies and others shooting pictures with cell phone cameras.

Daniela Rizzo brought her husband and their infant son from Connecticut.

"You can feel the energy," Rizzo said. "You can feel the faith."

Visit the official papal visit Web site at www.uspapalvisit.org

[jerr11]

The only way to purify the church is to jail all the priests and bishops and cardinals involved in this crime.

Start with Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston.

Why is he still walking around free?

[showbuzzard]

Nothing like a PR move to hoodwink people...Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) had been appointed by John Paul II to investigate a ***-crime scandal in Newchurch, but when approached in May 2002 by ABC NEWS in Rome with questions about his cover-up of accusations against Maciel, Ratzinger became visibly upset and actually slapped ABC reporter Brian Ross. "Come to me when the moment is given," Ratzinger told him, "not yet," Ratzinger imperiously demanded. Why haven''t those Bishops and Cardinals, like Brom in San Diego and Mahoney in Los Angeles, who obstructed justice through fake bankruptcies, gave false testimony under oath and withheld evidence, been removed from their posts? The reason is that they got their marching orders from the Vatican - specifically Ratzinger - who actually put into place a "secrecy oath" on these issues. So what is the pope%u2019s motivation? He wants to bury this and his involvement once and for all. Five years ago church officials "considered" a national online database on pedophile priests that obviously is not happening. When the heat is on they publicly ponder many reforms. And when public attention shifts they enact virtually no reforms. When will he remove Bernard Cardinal Law from his position in Rome or John B. McCormack, bishop of Manchester, N.H., for the past 10 years?

[jerr11]

The Catholic has become nothing but a pedophilic institution.

It''s been hijacked by power brokers, thieves, and pedophiliacs.

Maybe we should install Warren Jeffs the next Pope.

He''ll fit right in with these religious phonies.

[prinzowhales]

If he wants "healing" perhaps he should have seen to it that the guilty b.astards were dealt with by the law instead of encouraging the covering up of their crimes.

We have yet to get to the bottom of the Boy''s Town?Lincoln Federal Credit Union child prostitution case. The WASHINGTON TIMES headlined the teenage male prostitutes'' midnight White House tour under Bush41...but since then the Establishment came down on the kids...the chief investigator and his son died in one of those mysterious plane crashes and one of the victims of the pederast ring became a reporter for Talon News and has, according to White House logs, spent dozens of all nighters there. This male prostitute/reporter advertized that he was always ''the teapot never the cup'' if you catch my meaning.

The Establishment pederasts have covered up the Florida Department of Children''s Services scandals--it was run by child abusers. Attorney General Gonazalez covered up the rape rooms in the Juvenile Justice Detention Centers...Now we have Bennie, the former Hitler Youth, coming here to talk about ''healing''...well, I''m certainly impressed. Sieg! Sieg! Sieg!

[jerr11]

The Catholic church has become nothing but a pedophilic institution.

It''s been hijacked by power brokers, thieves, and pedophiliacs.

Maybe we should install Warren Jeffs the next Pope.

He''ll fit right in with these religious phonies.

[jerr11]

And Mark Pedofoley can become Mark Cardinal Foley of Florida.

[barbaraf4]

The Vatican Bank has been the money-laundering institution for the Italian Mafia since the beginning of this century.

[cpaide]

why you not arrest this filthy pope and put him in the rodeo arena in texas with the lustful old mormans men, and free this poor humble clean mormans womens and children?

[patriotic9]

Pope Encourages Healing From Abuse Scandal
At Mass In New York''s St. Patrick''s Cathedral, Pontiff Says Church Is Undergoing Purification


What is the course of action?

Is pope ready to change the extreme s-e-x phobia preached in catholicism, which is the mother of all the evils.
More anybody suppresses his or her libido, more it would bounce back.
Pope can forbid priests and nuns from fulfiling their natural demand of body and soul, but can not stop their hormones in acting on the target organs.
What is better?
Priest sodomizing little boys in the churches or living happily with their spouses?

[fibonacci_]

One problem is, part of Christian superstition say that priests cannot have a wife and can absolutely not, under any circumstances, get down with the hongo-wongo pokie-wokie. So they have got all this *** back up and see those little boys and think - "it is a sin but not as bad as having lonk-lonk zip-zonk with a woman my own age. After all, I am a priest."

[rushlimpdrug]

So why can the pope as well as cbs mention s-e-x
and posters cannot?

Maybe it is now the Catholic Broadcasting S-e-x network?

Got wine?

[patriotic9]

"it is a sin but not as bad as having lonk-lonk zip-zonk with a woman my own age. After all, I am a priest."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by fibonacci_ at 01:09 PM : Apr 19, 2008

Why should pope care if it''s a sin?
Didn''t jesus die for his sins?

[patriotic9]

What does pope do for living?
It seems like religion is a great money making business!!!

[irliberal]

Pope encourages HEALING from priest abuses? What a joke.

Cash. Punishment. The Catholic church is very good at these two things.

Time for them to pay OUT, and keep paying out until the pope appears in public in a gray wool robe, because he can''t afford anything else. Then, perhaps he will learn the lesson of humility.

[idnnsg]

"... revising church law so predators could be more easily removed"

In other words, the Church Law currently PREVENTS them from removing pervs from the clergy, even when caught in the act! What kind of evil mo.rons actually sat down and wrote such laws? And what kind of evil mo.rons would go along with such "laws", just because some mo.ron said they have to?

The Roman Catholic Church needs a serious scrubbing, top to bottom if there is to be any "hope for Christians".

[fibonacci_]

A whole lot of stupid people follow Christianity and other religions - yes there is a big market there.

[middleman8]

There (priests suffering )like "Christ in his passion" Give us a break. This sounds like a statement George would make.

[downtowner97]

That''s right kids! Go heal! Your nightmarish memories of abuse are an affront to God. Never mind that the priests who abused you haven''t been locked up, they''re forgiven, so go forget!

[randynason]

Who is Mr. Pope encouraging to heal; the priests or the victims? It seems too little, too late, to me.

[spy-vs-spy_]

Why does the pope Encourages Healing From Abuse Scandal? So there is no accountability for the priest who were the offenders. Its like CBS story on the Titanic? The ship on these communications with the victims will sink? These victims want justice!

[honestabe8]

Why does anyone pay attention to this clown in a funny suit?

[nanging3]

REMOVE THIS RENEGADE PRIEST, HE CONDONES MURDER, RACISM, AND VIOLENCE... SIGN PETITION AT

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/removable-of-father-michael-pfleger

[nanging3]

GOD BLESS THE POPE....WHAT A BEAUTIFUL, GENTLE LOVING, KIND SPIRIT.
THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS TRULY REFLECTED IN HIM...
PEACE...

[nanging3]

PRIEST SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO GET MARRIED, LIKE IN THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

[nanging3]

REMOVE THIS RENEGADE PRIEST, HE CONDONES MURDER, RACISM, AND VIOLENCE... SIGN PETITION AT

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/removable-of-father-michael-pfleger

[cyberus-2009]

Time of Healing .. hmmmm

All the things that can get someone kicked out of the church, a Priest abusing children is a time to forgive and heal.
Some set of standards there.

[tucano2]

Works, do Works, get something Done! For example fire Mahoney and most of the rest of the leadership in the USA for leading Americans, particularly young male Americans, down the garden path and behind some Bushes where priests rape the boys and the leadership hide the monsters and give these perps other parishes to attack still more Americans. Mahoney''s hide and seek ''game'' with prosecutors to protect child-rapist priests is criminal; throw the s.o.b. in jail with other *** offenders, and perhaps he''ll cough up the files quickly enough. These miserable monsters need to be treated as any other child-rapist is treated. Take off the gloves!

[element51]

It''s still hard to talk about this but here goes. Having been molested by a parish priest at the age of 11, I have lived with it all my life. And it has had a disasterous effect on me. I won''t go into how it has affected me but it has. At one point I went to a Bishop who is the head of the church in the area where I live and told him what happened and asked for an apology. He informed me that he could not apologize for something that I had no proof of and dismissed me as though I were an errent schoolboy. I was 56 years old at the time. All my life I wanted some sort of apology but was afraid no one would believe me and I had no physical proof so I have just lived with it. I had all this happen and I''m not even a Catholic. To me, organized religion is nothing more than manipulation of the masses based on a bunch of fairy tales and this Pope in just another scammer who is bleeding the sheep. The church robbed me of my innocence and has never made the slightest effort to even acknowledge what they did. I''d say they can rot in hel1 but I don''t believe there is such a place.

[clew37]

For Element51:
I''m not a Catholic either, nor do I believe in gods. I apologize to you though. For all the suffering you went through that adults could have stopped, for the continuing embarassment and anger you have to go through every day, I apologize...People could stop these things from happening with just a very little effort. But we don''t. We put words on paper and then look away. I hope you find someplace in your mind you can feel happiness occasionally. You are a very strong-hearted man.

[thisandthat1]

While it was going on, the Pope, in his position then, swept it under the carpet, hoping it would go away. Now, the cashflow is being effected at the Vatican, because Catholics are leaving the Church in droves .... so, now all of a sudden, he cares deeply about the issue!

[byeneocons]

As long as the Catholic church preaches celibacy, they will have the perversion of pedophilia. To preach against condoms in the age of AIDS is a sin.
To go to countries where starvation is the way of life where women have kid after kid and preach against birth control is a sin.

Religions, like mankind, should evolve. Did Catholicism stop the abomination of slavery? No.
The evolution of cultures did.

The Pope can apologize all he wants. Two billion dollars in settlements to victims of pedophiles is an abomination. If they''re strapped for money, they should sell some of their massive real estate assets all over the world. Or a couple of those jewels from the crown.

[element51]

clew37....Thank you for your kind words. In fact, thank you for simply believeing me. One of the hardest things to deal with my whole life was that if I tried to talk to anyone about this no one believed I was telling the truth. I think that hurt more than anything else. As the years have gone by, I have slowly reached the point where I have been able to forgive the man that did those things to me. Once I did that I was able to take my life back and that has brought me peace. I still have times when I get flashes of anger when I see organized religion manipulating the people but I tell myself that if that brings comfort to people I have no right to be angry about it. When you listen to the President talk about his "faith" and then watch young men and women dying because of his actions it makes you angry. But again, the people chose him and who am I to go against the people''s will. Anyway, thank you again because just to read your words makes me realize that there are good loving people out there so all is not lost.

[newsterl]

"CBS News Seized By Chronic - Habitual Spammers - Again !
Chasing Away Serious Posters and former Patrons of CBS ...
Commercial Advertisers should take more Consideration in the Money they Spend
On the Incompetent and Inept - CBS News Management
Posted by lastdance112"

READ the disclaimer you fool, it says;

"Now you''re in the public comment zone. What follows is not CBS News stuff; it comes from other people and we don''t vouch for it."

What does that MEAN lastdance112 ? It means STOP WHINING, the comments section is totally FREE to you, if you don''t like to read other people''s comments then go somewhere else!

[newsterl]

The pope says the s3x scandal..."has caused the church and him great suffering."

YEAH RIGHT! the church and HIM, but he makes NO mention of the VICTIMS! typical right wing idiot, he is more concerned about how much CASHOLA his dumb sheeple are losing to lawsuits.

Every new lawsuit against these right wing pedo protectors I read about brings JOY to my heart.

Go back home ponTIFF, preferably in pieces in a pine box.

[rushlimpdrug]

Great.

The suffering is behind us!

Now let''s all go to Walmart and help out
the chineeze economy.

China, now there is a market for christianity!

Go get''em!

[brianbwb-2009]

"My own years as a teenager were marred by a sinister regime that thought it had all the answers,"

You mean like when you said that "Ours is the only true church"?

Certain ways of thinking do become ingrained.

[fibonacci_]

The future of the American church? None I hope. Only stupid people believe stuff like that and their percentage of the population is falling.

[fibonacci_]

Actually I change my mind - future of the American church - a museum.

[gronamox-2009]

Why do we have to be exposed to these ''religious'' leaders coming to the US to hawk their wares or in the pope''s case, gloss over his organization''s crimes? They are looking for contributors; they are polishing up their rotten reputations; they are trying to lure young men into twisted and repressed lives of sexless(hardly) obedience to other men. Join the Tibetan Church (I don''t think so), become a priest(I don''t like boys). Let''s keep these mf''s out. They can never atone for their inhuman behavior. And if you think the Dalai Lama is an innocent, you are crazy.

[trishab4]

The future of the American church? None I hope. Only stupid people believe stuff like that and their percentage of the population is falling.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by fibonacci_ at 05:43 AM : Apr 20, 2008

-Amen!

[trishab4]

Not only it should apologize for the sexual abuse its pervert priests caused to innocent kids and older victims, but The Church should apologize for every penny they extorted from gullible people and return more Billions to the needy. The church should return to the simplicity and ''poverty'' they vowed to, facing God! They should not be running Billions $ of assets and luxury properties throughout the World, while poverty is strking in majority of Catholic, and third world countries.

[pollroller1]

The pope is here to see if he can fleece the flock.
I mean what is this poor church to do. They may be down to their last hundred billion dollars.

[fuzzybear9]

Hello CBS Viewers

Fuzzy what do you find disturbing about this article ?

well the posted comments by some of the viewers here.

Cinasism

I`m not Catholic
but I see know reason to attack someone even if it he be the Pope for know particular reason, it is just down right rude and crude.

and is a clear sign of our society to attack a person of leadership for no just cause.
it just makes you right tired of these people.

arrogance thats why people around the world find Americans so arrogant and crude , to critisize someone they don`t even know,

have any one of you sat down and talked to the Pope ?

NO

not one of you, and you never will .

Oh that I could only live in a curtious society.
just once.

sincerely tired of crude people Bear
Fuzzy

[fuzzybear9]

Oh and by the way and I can see that there are those
who might feel some justification in their hurt
but
you can`t seriously believe 500 million people are all Bad ?

think about it

I mean that`s like blaming Fuzzy for the condition of the United States Economy.

come on people get a grip on yourselves.

what about the singing Nun Maria in
The Sound Of Music

, or the Flying Nun
you really can`t believe all those people are Bad ?

come on every budy Join in,
``what do we do with a girl like Maria,
a will of the wisp , la la la la ... ``

sincerely Fuzzy

[pollroller1]

FuzzyBear9 It''s called freedom of speech my friend.
I don''t agree with everything I read here, but I respect the poster''s right to say what is on their minds.

[fuzzybear9]

FuzzyBear9 It''''s called freedom of speech my friend.
I don''''t agree with everything I read here, but I respect the poster''''s right to say what is on their minds.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by pollroller1 at 09:31 AM : Apr 20, 2008


I agree
but do you all have to be so negative all the time ?
it gets a little trying,

it reminds me of a Guy I use to work with
nothing was ever right
moan and complain moan and complain
it just gets tiring thats all

sincerely Fuzzy

[fuzzybear9]

Wouldn`t it be nice for someone to say

Wow the Pope he`s isn`t he a Fancy dresser !

or

Wow look at that nice neat hair trim the pope has,
he looks as good as Elvis.

something positive

anyway

sincerely Fuzzy

[fabrat1]

In a world where so much is wrong a good positive attitude would be wonderful for a change. Personally, I would love to see the Pope in person and to be able to pray with him or attend a mass given by him.

[prayerworx]

As an American Catholic in my 40''s I have not experienced any form of sexual abuse, nor do I know of anyone who has. Nobody''s condoning these actions nor is anyone I am aware of saying that this has not occurred. I pray for the victims of this tragedy and healing for what they have been through. The Holy Father has come to America to help with that healing both for individuals as well as the American Church as a whole. I accept what he is attempting to do for what it is, taking responsibility. The actions of the priests involved in inexcusable, especially if it happened with the knowledge or consent of church officials. However, I think its also equally wrong to condemn the entire Catholic institution for the actions of these individuals. Let''s be realistic, a vast majority of our priests are not involved and most of the Lay individuals have not and are not experiencing this. Additionally, I can tell you the Church has not ignored this issue. As a Catechist teaching Sunday school who works with youth of the church I can tell you first hand the rules have been significantly changed in the past few years and everyone is significantly aware that this is an important area of concern. I can also witness similar changes with the Boy Scouts and YMCA youth organizations that it is significant concern there as well. So, folks, let''s get real and quit bashing the Catholic Church and Catholics, other Christians or any other religion and move on so the healing can begin.

[pollroller1]

Well, the pope did have on some beautiful red slippers.