NEW YORK (AFP) — The New York Archdiocesan Deaf Choir "signed" a song for Pope Benedict XVI Saturday at a seminary outside New York, where the pontiff blessed some 50 children with disabilities and visited students.
The 81-year-old pontiff rose and applauded the choir of 15, accompanied vocally by the Cathedral of Saint Patrick Young Singers, after they had finished their song, "Take Lord, Receive."
"God has blessed you with life and with differing talents and gifts," Benedict said in a short speech to the crowd of around 50 families of children with disabilities.
"Sometimes it is challenging to find a reason for what appears only as a difficulty to be overcome or even pain to be endured," the pope told the gathering.
"God's love ... points to a meaning and purpose for all human life," he said.
Outside in the 40-acre (16-hectare) grounds of St Joseph Seminary, a huge crowd -- in which the average age was probably one-quarter that of the octogenarian pope -- had gathered to greet Benedict.
The pope had travelled to the suburb of Yonkers by motorcade after celebrating mass at New York's St Patrick's Cathedral.
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