WASHINGTON -- Pope Benedict XVI began the first full day of his U.S. visit being serenaded by thousands of spectators at the White House and ended it with a sweeping speech to the nation's bishops in which he admitted that the sex abuse scandal was "very badly handled."
President Bush invited the pope for an elaborate ceremony on the South Lawn, and then the two leaders privately discussed issues such as immigration and the Middle East. Thousands filled the streets of downtown Washington as Pope Benedict shuttled between events in the popemobile.
Much attention was focused on the pope's highly anticipated speech to 350 U.S. bishops last evening. Echoing introductory remarks by Cardinal Francis George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Pope Benedict said the sex scandal was "at times very badly handled."
"It is your God-given responsibility as pastors to bind up the wounds caused by every breach of trust, to foster healing, to promote reconciliations and to reach out with loving concern to those so seriously wronged," he told the bishops at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Papal observers said the pope, who said Tuesday that he was "deeply ashamed" by the abuse scandal, was trying to tackle head-on the most important issue facing the American church.
"This is the first time there has been a public acknowledgment by a pope that sometimes the bishops handled the sex abuse scandal very poorly. ... This is a mea culpa by the church," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and author of books on the Vatican.
Pope Benedict did not directly address the conduct of some bishops accused of sheltering pedophile priests from scrutiny, nor did he propose concrete steps for reform. The speech was "a middle way" that probably will not satisfy all lay Catholics and victims of abuse, said Stephen Pope, a professor of moral theology at Boston College.
"The issue that hasn't been dealt with here is that of accountability," Pope Benedict told the bishops.
His remarks came in the middle of a long address on topics such as declining marriage rates and the faltering numbers of priests.
Earlier in the day, Pope Benedict steered largely clear of controversy, and Washington turned out in force to welcome him to the United States.
