This was supposed to be an introduction. On his first papal visit to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI would celebrate a few Masses, give a speech at the United Nations, and let a nation that knew him by his reputation as the church's doctrinal enforcer experience his softer, warmer, more welcoming side.
Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, plans changed.
Shepherd One hadn't yet touched down at Andrews Air Force Base when Pope Benedict made his first comments on the sex abuse crisis that has shaken the Roman Catholic Church in America.
And he didn't stop there. The 81-year-old pontiff raised the issue again during Mass at Nationals Park in Washington. Then came the news that he had met privately with a group of abuse survivors from Boston, epicenter of the scandal. And, finally, word that the church is considering changes to the canon law that regulates its handling of abuse allegations.
Pope Benedict kept his appointments with the United Nations, the White House and the leaders of other religions. He celebrated Mass and met with bishops, Catholic educators and youth.
But he kept returning to the abuse issue, raising it on each of his first five days here, and in short order, a trip that began as a diplomatic tour became a pastoral visit.
Now, bishops and advocates for abuse victims are talking about new hope for reconciliation.
"All I can say is, thanks be to God," said Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, who joined Pope Benedict at the altar yesterday for the Mass at Yankee Stadium in New York. "It's something that he could have avoided or made excuses about, but it's the mark of the man that he saw how serious this has been for us."
A report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops counted more than 10,000 complaints of abuse involving more than 4,000 priests from 1950 to 2002. Dioceses in the United States have paid out more than $2 billion in civil settlements; six have sought bankruptcy protection.
But beyond those numbers, involving as they do only a small percentage of the nation's 67 million Catholics, the scandal has shaken the faith of many in their church's hierarchy. Some analysts have linked it to the rate at which Catholics are leaving the church in the United States, which is greater than in any other major American faith.
"We are encouraged by Pope Benedict's acknowledgment that the sexual abuse crisis was very poorly handled," said Dan Bartley, president of Voices of the Faithful. "This acknowledgment provides a fresh starting point for us to begin healing and transforming our church."
