NEW YORK (AFP) — Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday will wrap up his first papal trip to the United States with a huge mass at Yankees stadium and a visit to the site of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
At the World Trade Center site, called Ground Zero, Benedict will pray for world peace and meet with survivors and families of the nearly 3,000 people who died when planes hijacked by terrorists slammed into the twin skyscrapers.
"That he is the first (pope) to come to Ground Zero is very big," said Will Jimeno, 40, a Port Authority policeman who was pulled out of the rubble of the collapsed skyscrapers after being buried in concrete and dust for 13 hours, told AFP.
"So many people lost their lives, so many good people. His visit is a show to the world that on 9/11, you had very cowardly people attack not only the US, but the world. Because the World Trade Center represented the world," said Jimeno before the papal visit to Ground Zero, which he will not attend.
"It's ironic, but I'll be in Rome when the pope is here," said the devout Catholic who says his faith, and a vision of Christ, helped him to survive in the rubble of the World Trade Center.
The prayer Benedict will recite was released ahead of time by the Vatican.
"God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world," the head of the Roman Catholic Church will implore.
"We ask you in your goodness to give eternal light and peace to all who died here -- the heroic first responders ... along with all the innocent men and women who were victims of this tragedy," the pope will say.
"We are mindful as well of those who suffered death, injury and loss on the same day at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania."
After the visit to Ground Zero, Benedict will celebrate mass for 55,000 people at Yankee stadium, the second huge mass of the six-day visit after a service in Nationals' baseball stadium in Washington.
In the six days he spent in the United States, the German-born pontiff has marked several firsts -- the visit to Ground Zero, the first mass celebrated by a pope in the 150-year-old St Patrick's cathedral in New York, and the first visit by a Roman Catholic leader to a synagogue in the United States.
During Saturday's mass, the pope pledged his support for Roman Catholic clerics as they struggle to come to terms with a church sex scandal that he said "has caused so much suffering" and damaged "the community of the faithful."
Benedict XVI celebrated his 81st birthday at the White House on April 16, and the third anniversary of his election to the papacy in New York Saturday.
The Pope got a rock star welcome Saturday when he visited a seminary outside New York to bless some 50 disabled children and their caregivers and attend a youth rally.
In the 40-acre (16 hectares) 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, who travelled to the suburb of Yonkers by motorcade after celebrating mass at New York's St Patrick's Cathedral.
Thousands of white and yellow handkerchiefs -- the colors of the Vatican -- waved vigorously above the young people's heads and each time the pope raised his hands to salute them, a roar of delight erupted from the young crowd.
The crowd had spent hours in the warm spring sun, their wait punctuated by pop songs belted out by singer Kelly Clarkson, winner of the first "American Idol" television talent search.
They wore official T-shirts, listing the venues of the pope's six-day visit to Washington and New York -- like a rock band tour souvenir shirt -- and others declaring the wearer to be "Property of Benedict XVI."
Yet more T-shirts tipped a hat to the soundbite generation, saying only "B16."
The white-haired pontiff, who had appeared tired during the morning mass at St Patrick's, was filled with renewed energy. A smile creased his face. He radiated happiness.
It was a welcome worthy of a rock star, and the pope warmed to it, descending to the foot of the stage to grasp hands -- to the delight of the crowd and the horror of secret service agents.
"This is not an easy time in which to be young," New York Archbishop Edward Egan said in a speech to welcome the pope, that was repeatedly interrupted by cheers and cries of "Benedetto" and "viva il papa."
Earlier, the New York Archdiocesan Deaf Choir "signed" a song for Benedict inside a building at the seminary, where the pontiff blessed several dozen children with disabilities and their caregivers..
Benedict has not shied away from controversy during the trip, repeatedly addressing the sex scandal that has rocked the US church both financially and morally.
And the pope won over many Americans, who had expected to welcome a shy, reserved man with difficulty matching the charisma of his predecessor, John Paul II.
The pope broke his usual reserve -- and got the US secret service to break theirs -- Friday evening, when he mingled with hundreds of wellwishers outside the residence of the Vatican envoy to the United Nations where he is staying.
One was wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan: "I (heart) my German Shepherd."
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