WASHINGTON (ABP) — In his first visit to the United States since ascending to the Throne of St. Peter, Pope Benedict XVI hailed America’s religious freedom and pluralism while simultaneously denouncing secularism’s influence.
The pontiff’s tour of the United States began officially April 16 with a sun-drenched ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House. With pomp normally reserved for heads of state, President Bush welcomed Benedict in front of more than 13,000 cheering guests.
“Here in America, you’ll find a nation that welcomes the role of faith in the public square,” Bush said to the beaming pontiff, who was also celebrating his 81st birthday. “When our founders declared our nation’s independence, they rested their case on an appeal to ‘the laws of nature, and of nature’s God.’ We believe in religious liberty. We also believe that a love for freedom and a common moral law are written into every human heart, and that these constitute the firm foundation on which any successful free society must be built.”
Benedict responded with similar praise for America’s simultaneous religiosity and religious liberty.
“I come as a friend, a preacher of the gospel, and one with great respect for this vast pluralistic society,” the former German cardinal said, in Bavarian-accented English. “From the dawn of the republic, America’s quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator. The framers of this nation’s founding documents drew upon this conviction when they proclaimed the self-evident truth that ‘all men are created equal’ and endowed with inalienable rights grounded in the ‘laws of nature, and of nature’s God.’”
Bush, in a nod to agreement between the two over such controversial issues as abortion rights, quoted words from the pope’s writings. “In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred, and that ‘each of us is willed, each of us is loved,’” Bush said, to applause from the invited audience, mainly comprised of Catholics.
But Benedict also alluded to differences with Bush on issues such as the Iraq war and the use of torture on terrorism suspects.
“America has traditionally shown herself generous in meeting immediate human needs, fostering development and offering relief to the victims of natural catastrophes. I am confident that this concern for the greater human family will continue to find expression in support for the patient efforts of international diplomacy to resolve conflicts and promote progress,” he said.
“In this way, coming generations will be able to live in a world where truth, freedom and justice can flourish — a world where the God-given dignity and the rights of every man, woman and child are cherished, protected and effectively advanced.”
But the pontiff alluded to challenges faced by the United States — and the Roman Catholic Church — in a later speech to U.S. Catholic bishops as well as at an April 17 outdoor mass in Washington.
Benedict told an estimated 46,000 at the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium that the United States is at “a crossroads” that holds “great promise.” But he warned that, “at the same time, we see clear signs of a disturbing breakdown” in society’s foundations. He cautioned the cheering throngs against an “increasingly secular and materialistic culture” enveloping the nation’s youth.
On April 16, protesters scattered along Benedict’s motorcade route throughout Washington underlined the challenges he faces in leading the nation’s approximately 70 million Catholics. As the pope’s fans cheered during the White House ceremony, groups just across the street in Lafayette Park protested the Catholic hierarchy’s handling of the ongoing child-sexual-abuse scandal. They held up signs with slogans like: “Celibacy has failed!”
Elsewhere along the parade route from the White House to the Vatican Embassy and, later, to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, other groups of Catholics protested Vatican policies on an exclusively male priesthood and homosexuality.
Many progressive and liberal Catholics fear that Benedict will take the church in a retrograde direction. Prior to his elevation to the papacy, he was known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and headed the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He earned a reputation as a strict enforcer of theological and social orthodoxy, often reining in bishops and theologians who questioned official church teachings on a wide range of issues.
Benedict’s U.S. visit was his first since he succeeded the late John Paul II in 2005. His other scheduled activities included speaking to heads of Catholic colleges and universities in Washington April 17, an address to the United Nations and an ecumenical prayer service with other Christian clergy in New York April 18, and presiding over another outdoor mass at Yankee Stadium April 20.
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Read more:
New pope delights moral allies, not supporters of ecumenical ties (4/19/2005)