There were no public statements made or planned; the pope and the president are to hold their discussion today after an official welcoming ceremony that was expected to draw as many as 9,000 guests to the South Lawn.
Benedict's visit to Washington and New York is the first trip to the U.S. by a pope since revelations of clergy sexual abuse were first made in Boston and later spread to dioceses nationwide.
The scandal, in which thousands of victims alleged they had been molested or raped by priests, bankrupted five dioceses and shattered families and parishes. Many of the victims were children at the time of the abuse.
Since assuming the papacy in 2005, Benedict has addressed the abuse issue more forcefully than his predecessor, John Paul II. And the statements during his flight Tuesday were strong and direct.
"We are deeply ashamed," he said. "We will do what is possible so this cannot happen again in the future."
Speaking in English and Italian as he answered four questions chosen from those submitted by reporters before the flight, Benedict said it was difficult for him to understand priests who had betrayed their sacred trust by molesting children, and he said the church was working to identify and exclude any seminary candidates who might harbor such tendencies.
"It is more important to have good priests than many priests," said Benedict, who will mark the third anniversary of his pontificate this week. "We will do everything possible to heal this wound."
A spokesman for a victims group, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said he appreciated the words but hoped for more.
"Talk is cheap, action is better," David Clohessy, national director of the group, said in an interview. "He's been pope for three years and a top Vatican official for three decades. Expressions of remorse and promises of reform . . . ring pretty hollow at this point."
No meeting with victims is scheduled, although Vatican officials have hinted that one may occur, perhaps informally and in private.
Such a session with the church's highest leader could be healing for at least some victims and, perhaps, the American church, one analyst said.
"If that were to happen and was perceived as a heartfelt, sorrowful expression of solidarity and remorse in the collective sense, that could be very significant," said R. Scott Appleby, professor of American religious history at the University of Notre Dame.
