(15 Apr 08 - RV) Pope Benedict XVI is bound for the United States of America on his
8th Apostolic voyage, dedicated to the theme Christ Our Hope.
The Pope is
due to touch down in Washington at 4pm local time.
US President George W Bush
plans to greet Pope Benedict when the jet lands at Andrews Air Force Base.
Latest
reports from Washington speak of thousands of Americans flooding the military airport
to catch a glimpse of the Pope on his arrival, with extra buses being chartered in
to cope with moving the crowds.
Over the Atlantic the Holy Father took time
out for a traditional Papal Journey Mid-flight Press conference, where he spoke to
journalists travelling with him about his hopes for his 6 day visit to Washington
and New York.
Emer McCarthy Reports:
“Justice, pastoral care and prevention"-
this was the 3 level formulae put forward by Pope Benedict XVI to help heal the wounds
of all those who have suffered the “shameful” scourge of sexual abuse and ensure
in his own words that “paedophiles can never be priests”.
The Holy Father was
speaking to journalists on board an Alitalia 777 Boeing, which has been affectionately
nicknamed, ‘Shepherd One’ by the thousands of American men women and children who
are impatiently waiting for his arrival in Andrews Air force Base.
After outlining
the two main objectives of this visit, his pastoral visit to the Church in America
which is marking a series of anniversaries this year, and his speech to the United
Nations, also celebrating it’s 60th birthday, the Pope then addressed the
most pressing questions for the secular media; top of the list whether he had a special
message for those in the US church who are still suffering the painful aftermath of
the child abuse scandal.
“It is difficult for me to understand how priest could
have failed in this way their mission to give healing to give the love of God to these
children”, confessed the Pope, “We are deeply ashamed and we will do everything possible
to ensure that this will not happen in the future”.
Pope Benedict XVI went
on to illustrate just how the Church must address this problem which has also affected
Churches outside the United States;
“I think we have to act on three levels,
the first is at a political level to ensure justice is done. We will absolutely exclude
paedophiles from the sacred ministry, they can never be priests and we will do all
we can to help the victims who have been deeply affected by this, these are the two
sides of justice”.
“On a pastoral level we must ensure healing and reconciliation,
this is a big pastoral engagement and I know that the bishops, priests and all the
Catholic people in the United States will do all in their power to help in this process”.
“Thirdly - Prevention, we have made a visitation [inspected-ed] of the seminaries
and we will do all that is possible in educating seminarians, to a deep spiritual,
human and intellectual education… only sound candidates can be admitted to the priesthood,
only persons with a deep love for Christ, and for their fellow people can become priests.
It is more important to have good priests than to have many priests”. Other issues
touched upon during the 15 minute question and answer session included immigration,
the importance of the Latin American presence in the US Church and the public value
of religion in the United States.
Pope Benedict XVI also dwelt on the pacifying
role of the United Nations, which he said “can only work if all nations have the same
shared fundamental values which are then translated into laws that are upheld by all
concerned. The confirmation of this fundamental concept, concluded Pope Benedict
XVI “is one of the main objectives of my mission”.