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	Pope Ends US Trip with a Challenge in New York Catholic World News April 21, 2008 http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=57955 Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) issued a clear challenge to American Catholics during his appearances in New York on April 19 and 20 as he concluded his apostolic voyage to America. In his homily at a Mass in St. Patrick's cathedral on April 19, the Holy Father said that he had come to the US to bring "the message of hope we are called to proclaim and embody in a world where self-centeredness, greed, violence, and cynicism so often seem to choke the fragile growth of grace." Later, after acknowledging the damage the Church has sustained because of the sex-abuse scandal, the Pope expressed his solidarity with faithful Catholics "in praying that this will be a time of purification for each and every particular church and religious community, and a time for healing." During a Mass in Yankee Stadium on April 20, the final day of his visit, the Pontiff said that American Catholicism had experienced "impressive growth" in the past century, but the future was "not without challenges." Gently alluding to the loss of many young Catholics who leave the Church, and the advent of many Hispanic immigrants to fill the depleted ranks, he spoke of the "linguistic and cultural tensions" the Church now faces. Pope Benedict-- whose 6-day visit to the US was marked by unusual candor, particularly on the topic of sexual abuse-- showed an equal willingness to discuss the divisions within the Church frankly when he said that the "great disappointments which followed Vatican Council II, with its call for a greater engagement in the Church's mission to the world, has been the experience of division between different groups, different generations, different members of the same religious family." In an exhortation to young Catholics in New York, warned against the blandishments of secular culture and the propaganda that is carried by the mass media. He recalled his own formative years in Germany, "marred by a sinister regime that thought it had all the answers before it was fully recognized for the monster it was." He asked American young people to conscious that "manipulation of truth distorts our perception of reality and tarnishes our imaginations and aspirations." The Pope made his appeal to New York youth by recalling the martyrs and saints of the American Church in the past. "And what of today?" he asked. "Who bears witness to the Good News of Jesus on the the streets of New York, in the troubled neighborhoods of large cities, in the places where the young gather, seeking someone in whom they can trust?" The Pope left New York with a challenge for young Catholics to deliver that message.
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