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	Pope 'Deeply Ashamed' of Child Abuse Scandals By Daniel Nasaw Guardian April 15, 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/15/religion.usa Pope Benedict XVI today said he was "deeply ashamed" of the child sex abuse scandal that rocked the US Catholic church, just hours before he was to arrive on his first journey to the US as pontiff. "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 aboard a special Alitalia airliner, nicknamed Shepherd 1. "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 81-year-old pope said, pledging to keep paedophiles out of the priesthood. The pope's plane touched down at Andrews air force base just outside the city at 3.50 pm local time. The pontiff soon emerged with a wide smile, waved to hundreds of cheering onlookers, and walked down the stairway to greet Bush, his wife Laura and daughter Jenna. Benedict made no public remarks, and after greeting church officials slipped into a waiting limousine to take him to the Vatican embassy near the White House. The pope's six-day tour, expected to cost more than $1m per day, will include masses at two baseball stadiums, meetings with political and religious figures, an address to the United Nations and a visit to Ground Zero. While it is Benedict's first visit to the US since he was elected in 2005, as the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger he travelled to the US five times while he was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. As head of the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog, Benedict was in charge of investigating paedophilia allegations worldwide, which eroded its moral authority, cost billions of dollars in compensation and, in some cases, led to dioceses filing for bankruptcy. Benedict was accused at the time of failing to investigate abuse claims. During the emerging news on the scandals in December 2002, he said the allegations were part of a "planned campaign" that was "intentional, manipulated" with the aim of discrediting the church. Today, Benedict steps off the plane in a nation where about a quarter of the adult population is Catholic, making the US one of the largest Catholic populations in the world with more than 67 million followers. But roughly one-third of Americans who were raised Catholic have left the church, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, because of Rome's stern teachings on birth control and abortion. The Catholic church in America has been invigorated in recent years by immigration from Latin America, and Latinos now account for about one-third of the nation's Catholics, according to the Pew forum. Dubbed "the apostolic journey to the United States", the pontiff's visit begins today when he is to be welcomed by President George Bush at Andrews air force base, then whisked away to the Vatican embassy in Washington. He will meet with Bush at the Oval office tomorrow, lunch with church officials, and lead prayers at the national shrine of the Immaculate Conception, a church at the Catholic University of America. On Thursday morning Benedict will celebrate mass at the new Nationals stadium in Washington, for a capacity crowd of 46,000. Followers who were unable to get tickets to the event have been advised to greet the pope along the route he will travel in the popemobile through Washington streets tomorrow and Thursday. Thursday evening he is to meet with Buddhists, Jews, Muslims and Hindus. Friday morning Benedict travels to New York City to address the UN. During the weekend he will meet with Catholics at St Patrick's cathedral in New York, pray at the site of the September 11 terrorist attacks in Manhattan, and on Sunday, lead a mass at the Yankee stadium. Meanwhile, in an indication of dissatisfaction with Benedict's handling of the sex abuse scandal, a group representing survivors of priest sex abuse plans to hold a vigil in Washington today to encourage the church to alter its institutional policies to better weed out paedophiles. "It's easy and tempting to continually focus on the paedophile priests themselves," Peter Isley, a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement. "It's harder but crucial to focus on the broader problem - complicity in the rest of the church hierarchy." Monsignor Robert Coleman, who helped organise Pope John Paul II's trip to the East coast in October 1995 said that trip cost about $1m (509,000) to $1.2m a day, including costs of the heightened security since September 11. "The mass at Nationals park, security, transportation of bishops and people, planning — we don't have a playbook for this," said Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the Washington archdiocese, who pointed out that the last papal visit to the capital was in 1979. Gibbs said Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington decided that parish and diocesan money should not be used for the visit. Instead, he set up a foundation, financed by wealthy donors, to underwrite the costs. Any surplus funds will be given to a charity chosen by the pope, she explained. The Archdiocese of New York will appeal to wealthy donors to help finance the visit. But it will also be collecting donations from parishioners. While the New York archdiocese will not have to pay for extra security provided by New York city or for the use of Yankee stadium for the papal Mass, the Washington archdiocese will have to pay to rent the National park. While the financial costs of the visit will be high, churches are anticipating the pope's visit will have a positive impact on the spiritual lives of Catholics.
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