The Pope Coming to Washington April 15, 2008
Posted by Reginald Johnson in Uncategorized.add a comment
I spent much of the day wondering what I would say if I had a chance to meet the Pope. I was sure if he and I had a chance to sit in a room alone; I am sure we would walk out the best of friends. Interestingly enough, Pope Benedict XVI said today that he was “deeply ashamed” when commenting on the clergy sexual abuse scandal. Here in the United States the Roman Catholic Church has settled with various families and organisations for millions of dollars due to the sexual scandals.
The Church also plans to work to keep pedophiles out of the priesthood. Sounds like a daunting challenge in some people’s eyes. The Pope says that he will be addressing these issues and others that are considered the toughest issue facing the American church as he began his first papal trip to the United States.
Benedict spoke in English, he’s of German origin, when he arrived at Andrew’s Air Force Base. He was greeted by President Bush and Laura Bush. The Pope took a special Alitalia flight from Rome to Washington. He will be in the district for three days then head to New York City.
“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. “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 pope said.
Benedict pledged that pedophiles would not be priests in the Catholic Church. This again may be a harder task for the Pope to attain. I put somewhere along the same lines of President Bush declaring a war on terrorism or President Johnson declaring a war on poverty.
This is the Pope’s first pilgrimage to the United States, and the first for a pontiff since the scandal involving priests sexually abusing young people rocked U.S. dioceses.
Benedict says his pilgrimage as a journey to meet a “great people and a great church.” He spoke about the American model of religious values within a system of separation of church and state.
The Pope said he will discuss immigration with Bush, including the difficulties of families who are separated by immigration.
While the pope and Bush differ on such major issues on the Iraq war, capital punishment and the U.S. embargo against Cuba, they do find common ground in opposing abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research.
