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	Pope to Visit US Amid Anger over Pedophile Priests Citizen November 12, 2007 http://www.citizen.co.za/index/Article.aspx?pDesc=1,1,22&Type=top&File=071112203637.dqsyxbyi.xml Pope Benedict XVI will stage his first visit to the United States next April, officials said Monday, as the US Catholic Church struggles to overcome a damaging pedophile scandal. The German-born pontiff will visit Washington and New York April 15-20 to celebrate Masses with the US faithful and to address the United Nations, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said that Benedict would miss a "golden opportunity" by failing to visit Boston, the epicenter of the scandal involving decades of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clerics. However, Church elders said the first papal visit to the United States since 1999 was an occasion to rejoice. "This is a blessed moment for our nation," USCCB president Bishop William Skylstad said in a statement. "Pope Benedict is not just the leader of Catholics, he is also a man of inspiration for all those who work for peace." The pope is scheduled to arrive in Washington on April 15 and receive an official welcome from President George W. Bush at the White House the next day, his 81st birthday, when he will also address US bishops. On April 17 he will celebrate Mass at the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium, and meet with directors of Catholic colleges and diocesan educational leaders. "We pledge to do all that we can to make his presence among us a moment of true spiritual renewal and a vibrant manifestation of God's kingdom at work among us," Archbishop Donald Wuerl of the US capital said. On April 18, the pope will head to New York to address the United Nations at the invitation of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. On April 19, the third anniversary of his election as pope, Benedict is due to celebrate Mass at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral before visiting the site of the fallen World Trade Center the next day. The Ground Zero trip will be in "solidarity with those who have died and their families and all who wish for an end of violence and the implementation of peace," Vatican envoy Archbishop Pietro Sambi told a USCCB meeting in Baltimore, according to the Catholic News Service. After his tour of the World Trade Center site, the pope is scheduled to round off his US visit with Mass at New York's Yankee baseball stadium. The Catholic Church counts some 69 million followers across the United States, including many in the fast-growing Hispanic community. But it has been on the defensive for years over the revelations of widespread abuse by priests dating back in some cases to the 1940s. The scandal finally broke when the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, confessed in early 2002 that he had protected a priest whom he knew had sexually abused young members of his church. According to the Bishop Accountability.org website, some 3,000 priests out of the 42,000 across the country have since been denounced. Catholic authorities in the United States have paid out close to 2.8 billion dollars in damages to victims, many of whom accused the Church of turning a blind eye to the sexual abuse. An unidentified young man who was abused as a boy by a Catholic priest has won a record three million dollars in compensation from a Pennsylvania diocese, Church officials said on Friday. The Vatican had "played a fairly abysmal role" in the scandal, by failing to punish implicated individuals or even promoting them, SNAP national director David Clohessy told AFP. "It's hard to imagine that he would ignore the crisis entirely. But we would hope that he would offer more than just a vague, passing reference to it," Clohessy said of the pope's visit. "We would hope that he would use this visit to announce genuine reform that would better protect kids in the future." Benedict's well-traveled predecessor, Pope John Paul II, visited the United States seven times during his pontificate. His last visit was in 1999 for an assembly of US bishops in St. Louis, Missouri. Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI, seen here 11 November 2007, will stage his first visit to the United States next April, officials said Monday, as the US Catholic Church vies to overcome a damaging pedophile scandal. Swiss guard and vatican security attend Pope Benedict XVI's audience Swiss guard and vatican security attend Pope Benedict XVI's audience of Italy's religious brotherhoods in Saint Peter square at the Vatican 10 November 2007. Pope Benedict XVI will stage his first visit to the United States next April, officials said Monday, as the US Catholic Church vies to overcome a damaging pedophile scandal.
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