WASHINGTON — On a day filled with pageantry and prayer, Pope Benedict XVI focused Wednesday on the sexual-abuse scandal afflicting the Roman Catholic Church, offering an unflinching acknowledgment that the crisis was mishandled by church officials and that victims deserve care and compassion.
The pope, speaking to Catholic bishops at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Roman Catholic church in North America, used some of his strongest language to date to condemn the sexual-abuse scandal and its enduring damage.
He urged the bishops to "strive to eliminate this evil wherever it occurs" and to give priority to care for the victims "of such gravely immoral behavior" by clerics who "betrayed their priestly obligations."
"It is your God-given responsibility as pastors to bind up the wounds caused by every breach of trust, to foster healing, to promote reconciliation and to reach out with loving concern to those so seriously wronged," he said.
The pope referred to what he called the "deep shame" of the sexual-abuse crisis that he said has inflicted "enormous pain" on Catholic communities across the nation.
Benedict also praised the role played by immigrants in bringing new life to the faith and advocated for their humane treatment. He lamented the weakened state of marriage in America, condemned secularism and urged that the practice of Catholicism infuse and inform public policy.
The pope, who later today will hold the first open-air Mass during his six-day pilgrimage to the U.S. East Coast, enjoyed a lavish ceremony at the White House on Wednesday, complete with birthday songs marking his turning 81 and a friendly meeting with President Bush.
More than 13,000 guests from various parts of the country crowded onto the White House South Lawn to hear Bush and the pope deliver remarkably in-sync comments on the importance of faith in public life and praise for an American democracy that nurtures it.
"The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good and a sense of responsibility toward the less fortunate," Benedict said. "It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one's deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate."
