NEW YORK: Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass at Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon, calling the gathering of nearly 60,000 people in the stadium "a sign of the impressive growth which God has given to the Church in your country in the past 200 years."
On the last day of his visit to the United States, the pope reached to the past and the future — praying for the dead during a ceremony at ground zero on Sunday morning, and urging inclusion for people, including immigrants, at the Mass at the stadium.
The pope entered the stadium to sustained applause from a capacity crowd, many of whom waved white or gold towels — the colors of the papacy. As did his previous Mass in Washington's Nationals Park, the celebration showed the diversity of the church, with readings in a variety of languages throughout the service.
"Here we are reminded of a fundamental truth: that the church's unity has no other basis than the word of God, made flesh in Christ Jesus our Lord," the pope said. "All external signs of identity, all structures, associations and programs, valuable or even essential as they may be, ultimately exist only to support and foster the deeper unity which, in Christ, is God's indefectible gift to his church."
The pope said American Catholics needed to unite behind church teachings and resist the challenges of living in a society that increasingly values secularism, a theme he has repeated throughout his six-day visit.
"It means overcoming every separation between faith and life, and countering false gospels of freedom and happiness," he said. "It also means rejecting a false dichotomy between faith and political life."
The homily dealt primarily with issues of faith, and unlike several of his earlier public statements, the pope did not directly address one of the most difficult issues confronting the church — the child sexual abuse scandal . However, he drew applause from the stadium when he referred to another controversial topic, abortion, as part of a call to follow "unchanging truths."
"They are the truths which alone can guarantee respect for the inalienable dignity and rights of each man, woman and child in our world — including the most defenseless of all human beings, the unborn child in the mother's womb," the pope said.
The pope was welcomed to the stadium by Cardinal Edward M. Egan, the archbishop of New York. Cardinal Egan called the pope's visit "an immense blessing," and told Benedict that representatives of the country's 195 dioceses and archdiocese had journeyed to take part in the Mass.
"We here in the Archdiocese of New York feel especially blessed by your coming here among us," said Cardinal Egan, who repeated a message of welcome to the pope in Spanish.
About 57,000 tickets were issued for the Mass, and people who attended waited in line hours before the pope arrived.
"You see how many pack together, come to see him?" said Clemens Semon, 50, of Ozone Park, Queens. Semon, originally from the Ivory Coast, spoke as he was going into the Mass with his wife, Elizabeth. "He's a unifier, he brings hope and peace."
The pope began Sunday with an appearance at ground zero, where he prayed for peace and met with a group of survivors and families of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In a brief prayer at the World Trade Center site, the pope asked for eternal peace for the people who died in the attacks and for strength and healing for their families. Making only an oblique reference to the terrorism behind the attacks almost seven years ago — "Turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred" — the pope asked for determination in the world's efforts toward peace.
"Grant that those whose lives were spared may live so that lives lost here may not have been lost in vain," he said at the bedrock level of the site, chilly and shrouded with fog that covered the tops of some buildings nearby. "Comfort and console us, strengthen us in hope, and give us the wisdom and courage to work tirelessly for a world where true peace and love reign among nations and in the hearts of all."
The ceremony began when the pope rode down a construction ramp at the World Trade Center site in his specially designed vehicle shortly after 9:40 a.m. As bells pealed, the pope, 81, dressed in white, walked the last quarter or so of the way down the ramp, to a small, rectangular-shaped pool where the family representatives had gathered. He was accompanied by Cardinal Egan. Kneeling briefly before the pool, the pope prayed silently before rising to light a single candle, meant to symbolize resurrection.