The trip went by in a blur, but the photos will help me remember what a great time it was.

Well, not all of it was so great. We had 2:30 wake-up calls and 4 a..m. wake-up calls, but that’s part of the game.

Some valuable advice I was given early on my career was this: eat, sleep and use the bathroom every chance you get, because you’ll never know when another will come. I thought of that when we were reporting from in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and journalists needed a security escort to get to a bathroom in a department store. We were told the escort could only be used for emergency cases!

One of the wonderful things about traveling with the pope is that you always run into friends and colleagues from the past. In Washington I worked with producer Anne Marie Riha, who I had last seen seven years ago in Jerusalem. And while I was reporting at the UN I ran into Sabrina Arena, an old friend from Rome who’s now in New York. Multi-lingual and multi-tasking, Sabrina was doing an interview in Spanish just a few satellite trucks down from me. Sabrina and her husband are doing their best to reverse Italy’s population problems, as they now have five kids. The children were with her parents right down the street from the UN, and I saw the smallest three for the first time.

(From left to right)

• New York’s Finest
• Producers Anne Marie Riha and Stacy Hickman with make-up artist Mary-Ellen Tasillo.
• Nationals Park at the start of the Mass
• Sabrina Arena and Company
• Paul Alvarez, Harriet Taylor and Woody outside St. Patrick’s

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I can’t believe the pope’s visit to the U.S. is almost over. It has been an amazing trip for the Holy Father that has been so well received. I was only able to be at two of the events, the visit to St. Joseph’s Church Friday, and to the St. Joseph’s Seminary Youth Rally yesterday.

We had a tremendous staff that worked very hard to bring you the best pictures, give you the most amazing access, and provide educated, well rounded commentary, and I am so proud to have worked with them all on this historic Papal event. I put together a little photo album here, with lots of behind the scenes shots.

You will see New York FOX 5 anchor Dari Alexander, Fox cameramen Tommy Chiu and Rob Ginnane, FOX Religion Correspondent Lauren Green, and FOX’s Father Jonathan Morris in some of the shots. One person I wish I caught in action was our weekend producer Ellen Fleysher – she at times runs around so fast it’s hard to catch up with her, which may be why her nickname is “Flash.” Our coordinating producer Melanie Schuman was also working extremely hard behind the scenes, and was responsible for setting up all of our live shots all over New York, no small task!

I also took a few short video clips from our position inside the media pen — at one point, we had a front row seat for the Popemobile, as it drove right in front of our live shot. Check out all the secret service running with it…

and just to show you this screaming crowd can go from “zero to 60″ (or the other way around in this case) on the volume scale, listen as the massive crowd pays close attention to every word during the pope’s speech

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It’s only been five days but this visit by Pope Benedict XVI seems a world apart from when he arrived.

On Tuesday, we didn’t know what to expect when he stepped off the plane. Now that we’ve seen him — the Shepherd One, this German nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler” — and heard his voice, witnessed his smile and incredible humility, he has become someone so close to us all.

I’m writing this at 8 a.m. from the media positions at Yankee stadium. After getting back from St. Joseph’s seminary at 9:30 last night, we had to be back at the media check in in midtown Manhattan at 3:45 a.m. this morning. The Mass begins here at Yankee in several hours.

The Mass will be the pontiff’s last big event in America. We hope it’s not the last ever, but it could be. Six days ago that fact was just information. Today that same fact saddens my heart, to think that this man who has become one of us may never grace us with his company again.

It’s gray and chilly this morning, almost as if even the weather is mirroring the mood of the moment. A sorrowful sigh at having to say goodbye to a new friend than in a short few days has become a trusted companion.

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What a thrill it is to be on the grounds of St. Joseph’s Seminary watching Pope Benedict arrive to the screams of over 25,000 young people. They are waiving their yellow and white scarves in the air in circles, creating a sea of spinning Papal flag colors to welcome the Holy Father.

This feels familiar. Screaming fans … the buildup to the “main event” … it has felt like a rock concert all day, and it has been with over a dozen acts performing for the crowd. A rapping priest, former American Idol star Kelly Clarkson and synchronized dancers have been delighting the masses, but now that the pope is here and on stage … it’s all about the message he brings.

The pope addressed 50 disabled youths and their caretakers before he made his grand entrance via Popemobile — We have heard from the other side of the seminary, that many of the parents on hand were moved to tears. We have amazing team coverage of this historic event

As you’ve been reading here on the blogs… Father Jonathan Morris is here, along with our FOX News Correspondent Lauren Green.

I am mostly behind the scenes here providing color of the event, and am listening to their ongoing analysis and am positively riveted to their words.

This is one memorable moment. I had our Coordinating Producer Melanie Schuman take a picture of us while we were all waiting for the Pope’s arrival… more to come

Update!

The Pope just started speaking… here’s a quick clip..

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Father Jonathan Morris and I are finally on site at the Youth Rally in Yonkers, N.Y. And, I think we can honestly say that we’re grateful to be here, after a wild bus ride from the big media security checkpoint in midtown Manhattan.

What should have been a 20 minute ride turned into an hour and a half journey. The secret service apparently didn’t check the route map well enough and didn’t realize that the West Side parkway bridges were too low for three tour buses (that were carrying hundreds of members of the media) to pass underneath!

The bus tied up traffic for at least 30 minutes as police stopped the flow of cars so the buses could back up about a 100 or so yards to exit and go around the overpass. Then, the narrow access road had no outlet to accommodate the buses. We had to make a U-turn in the intersection to go back to the parkway, enter after the low bridge and then on our way again.

Needless to say, we were late.

There are already thousand of young people from the various surrounding dioceses here.  Stay tuned — I’ll be writing all afternoon.

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2:18: I’ve always wanted to see the Popemobile. But as the pope passed by to applause and cheers of “Benedicto! Benedicto! Benedicto!” I couldn’t help but feel a little sad. It’s unfortunate that bulletproof glass is a necessary evil for a man who says he’s on a mission to spread peace.

12:35: I grew up going to church every Sunday. Mom and Dad would get the four of us kids dressed up for the 10 a.m. mass. If we were lucky they’d buy us doughnuts from the CYO afterward.

I am not a regular churchgoer now, but the mass is still very familiar to me. There is such uniformity that no matter where in the world you are, if you find yourself in a Catholic mass, you can’t help but feel like you’re home.

It was like that for me today while sitting outside St Patrick’s Cathedral, observing, as part of the media. Audio of the pope saying mass was pumped out through speakers, so I was able to follow along while working.

Throughout it, I heard certain cues and knew when it was time to kneel, stand or make the sign of the cross. But nothing struck me more than when it was time for the sign of peace. I instinctively looked to my left and right to shake someone’s hand and say, “Peace be with you.” I’ve always felt there is something very energizing about that part of the mass, as you hug and kiss your family and shake the hands of any stranger within reach.

I saw that energy in the faces of all the faithful lined up outside of the Cathedral, listening to the mass they know so well … just like me.

8:13 am: Some of us in the media have been here since 3 p.m. yesterday and all through the night, preparing for the pope’s arrival at St Patrick’s Cathedral.

Thousands of people are lined up for blocks to catch a glimpse of the pope — Bill Hemmer and the rest of us crew have a front row seat.

The bishops who will be attending the mass just arrived.

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What whirlwind trip the Holy Father is making through the United States.

A two-city tour seems more like a 20 city extravaganza. As I mentioned before the pope seems to be revealing a different side, with this effervescent personality that’s emerging. As Greg Burke so aptly put, the pontiff is having his “John Paul moments”! In fact, it’s more than a moment. Kissing babies, waving to the crowds, skirting the secret service to shake a few hands … it’s amazing.

But all that has not stopped the pope from making some very surprising and serious gestures. Yesterday he secretly met with three victims of priest sexual abuse. The meeting was so secret, the press person from the Boston Archdiocese didn’t find out till 2 a.m. of the day it happened (the victims were all from the Boston area). The Washington Archdiocese and USCCB (United States Council of Catholic Bishops) press persons found out from the news reports after Father Lombardi, the Vatican spokesperson, gave a couple of interviews. There were print photographers at the papal nuncio’s residents waiting for the pope to head out to another planned event, and didn’t know that the folks entering casually in the afternoon, were abuse victims getting a private meeting with the Holy Father! Amazing!

But it just shows us that the unprecedented frankness and openness with which Pope Benedict began on the flight over, was no accident. In fact I’ve been told the pope himself asked to meet with victims. Now other reports say Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley pressured the pontiff or at least urged him to meet with victims. So we may never know for sure. But I can speculate that because Pope Benedict, as Cardinal Ratzinger and the Vatican’s chief theologian, and saw hundreds, if not thousands, of these cases come ac cross his desk over the years, he would have a much more personal connection to the cases than John Paul II. In fact it was Cardinal Ratzinger who was responsible for adding sexual sins against minors, to the list of grievous sins that could be committed by a priest.

And, yes, the church didn’t do enough and responded too slowly or not at all. But Cardinal William Levada, who is now the vatican’s chief theologian and an American, said this afternoon at TIME Magazine luncheon, that if the majority of bishops in charge had known what they know now , “they would have acted differently”. Let’s hope so.

For no at least, it seems the tide has changed and the abuse scandal will not be swept away, allowing for the healing truly to begin.

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Secret service, NYPD, undercover agents.. they are everywhere outside St. Joseph’s Church in Yorkville.

I am sitting right across the street behind metal barricades along with many other reporters and cameramen anticipating the pope’s arrival later this afternoon. It is a very warm day here in New York, and the sun is beating down on the concrete – which is making it feel like we are all sitting in a ceramic kiln.

All eyes are pointed to the sky, watching for the sun to make it’s way past the top of the Church’s building to create more shade.

The excitement for the pope’s arrival is tangible. Many curious people are standing at the end of the barricaded block craning their necks as they try to eyeball the action… which really hasn’t started yet.

The pope is still hours away from arrival, but security is extremely tight. We aren’t allowed to move beyond our designated few feet outlined by the Secret Service — in fact, I just got yelled at for trying to get close to the barricade at the end of the block so I could take pictures of the people hanging over the metal gates. So, with that, I give you the only pictures I have been able to take so far.

New York’s Cardinal Edward Egan just showed up just a few minutes ago….

our camera man Tommy Chiu is ready for action,

And, no doubt recognize this person, my new friend – Dari Alexander, New York Fox 5, 6 p.m. anchor, we are using the steps of a walk up apartment right now as a working office!

Update: 6pm The Pope is here — and his followers are elated. This is the first Christian event for the Pope in New York, as he meets Protestant and Orthodox and Catholic leaders. Pope Benedict has said that he believes that there is too much division among Christian religions.. and that he hopes that he can help bring everyone closer together with a common understanding with his visit.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for this mother to have the Pope walk up and kiss her child as he entered the Church? Unbelievable, of course. Her name is Amy Carillo and that is her daughter Ashley who turns 8 months old tomorrow… what a gift.

With a huge day behind him, the Pope was off with his Papal entourage into the New York night, to meet up with a group of U. S. Cardinals and advisers for a special dinner, and I’m sure some much needed rest. Tomorrow, it’s off to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, followed by a “Popemobile Parade”, and a visit to St. Joseph’s Seminary where we will be bringing you more live reports

Stay tuned!

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We begin live coverage at 10:45am today of Pope Benedict’s speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations. This speech was the original purpose for the Pope’s visit to the United States and its importance cannot be overstated. He has spent long hours preparing his talk and every word will be his own.

The visit to the U.N. coincides with the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. You can read it here – the whole document is there.  It is short and to the point and in my opinion it is the most important international document ever to have been signed. After the horrors of World War II, the General Assembly of the United Nations came together and declared that in order to avoid repeating the atrocities of the 20th century, the world community must declare together that human rights are universal and their foundation is based not on democratic vote, or even worse, on the decision of whoever is the most powerful, but on an inherent dignity with which we have been endowed.

We will be explaining more about this on television in just a few moments (10:45am).

Get ready for a speech that will go down in history. His ideas are deep, novel, and of consequence to all of us no matter our religious affiliation.

I want to hear what you think. Post a comment. I will read them all.

God bless, Father Jonathan

Father Jonathan Morris is the author of the new book, “The Promise: God’s Purpose and Plan for when Life Hurts”

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Good morning from a box seat in National Park baseball stadium. I am in the “FOX box” overlooking what normally serves as home plate; today it is covered with the papal crest. It is 10:00am and the stadium is packed. Fifty thousand Christians are here to accompany Pope Benedict XVI in his first event open to the masses (pun intended).

With so much on the docket today, I don’t want us to overlook the content of the Pope’s address to the America bishops yesterday. This was his occasion to give marching orders—and a shot of encouragement—to his local leaders.

Once again, no punches were pulled—clarity of thought and expression dipped in and dripping with kindness. That’s this man’s way.

I hate to try to summarize the talk for you because whenever he speaks, unlike other popes in the past (even the great John Paul II) his language is always simple and accessible. He gets down to brass tacks almost immediately. I think it’s fair to say that if John Paul II was the pope of television (his smile, his grandeur gestures, his warmth), Benedict is the pope of the Internet. Once you read him, you know him.

But just in case you don’t read the whole speech, below are some key paragraphs, in the Pope’s own words.

If you have questions or comments, please take a moment to post them on this live blog. I read them and will respond as much as I can.

God bless, Father Jonathan

1) The Goodness of the American People

“Indeed, the people of this country are known for their great vitality and creativity. They are also known for their generosity. After the attack on the Twin Towers in September 2001, and again after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Americans displayed their readiness to come to the aid of their brothers and sisters in need. On the international level, the contribution made by the people of America to relief and rescue operations after the tsunami of December 2004 is a further illustration of this compassion.”

2) The Faith of the American people

“America is also a land of great faith. Your people are remarkable for their religious fervor and they take pride in belonging to a worshipping community. They have confidence in God, and they do not hesitate to bring moral arguments rooted in biblical faith into their public discourse.”

3) Religious Liberty

“Respect for freedom of religion is deeply ingrained in the American consciousness – a fact which has contributed to this country’s attraction for generations of immigrants, seeking a home where they can worship freely in accordance with their beliefs.

4) The Obstacle of Secularization

While it is true that this country is marked by a genuinely religious spirit, the subtle influence of secularism can nevertheless color the way people allow their faith to influence their behavior. Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday, and then during the week to promote business practices or medical procedures contrary to those beliefs? Is it consistent for practicing Catholics to ignore or exploit the poor and the marginalized, to promote sexual behavior contrary to Catholic moral teaching, or to adopt positions that contradict the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death? Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted. Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel.

5) The Obstacle of Materialism

For an affluent society, a further obstacle to an encounter with the living God lies in the subtle influence of materialism, which can all too easily focus the attention on the hundredfold, which God promises now in this time, at the expense of the eternal life which he promises in the age to come (cf. Mk 10:30). People today need to be reminded of the ultimate purpose of their lives. They need to recognize that implanted within them is a deep thirst for God. They need to be given opportunities to drink from the wells of his infinite love. It is easy to be entranced by the almost unlimited possibilities that science and technology place before us; it is easy to make the mistake of thinking we can obtain by our own efforts the fulfillment of our deepest needs. This is an illusion. Without God, who alone bestows upon us what we by ourselves cannot attain (cf. Spe Salvi, 31), our lives are ultimately empty. People need to be constantly reminded to cultivate a relationship with him who came that we might have life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10). The goal of all our pastoral and catechetical work, the object of our preaching, and the focus of our sacramental ministry should be to help people establish and nurture that living relationship with “Christ Jesus, our hope” (1 Tim 1:1).

5) The Obstacle of Individualism

In a society which values personal freedom and autonomy, it is easy to lose sight of our dependence on others as well as the responsibilities that we bear towards them. This emphasis on individualism has even affected the Church (cf. Spe Salvi, 13-15), giving rise to a form of piety which sometimes emphasizes our private relationship with God at the expense of our calling to be members of a redeemed community.

6) Importance of Faith Formation (Education)

In an age that is saturated with information, the importance of providing sound formation in the faith cannot be overstated. American Catholics have traditionally placed a high value on religious education, both in schools and in the context of adult formation programs. These need to be maintained and expanded.

7) Bioethics

At a time when advances in medical science bring new hope to many, they also give rise to previously unimagined ethical challenges. This makes it more important than ever to offer thorough formation in the Church’s moral teaching to Catholics engaged in health care. Wise guidance is needed in all these apostolates, so that they may bear abundant fruit; if they are truly to promote the integral good of the human person, they too need to be made new in Christ our hope.

A Call to the Bishops to Influence the National Debate

Clearly, the Church’s influence on public debate takes place on many different levels. In the United States, as elsewhere, there is much current and proposed legislation that gives cause for concern from the point of view of morality, and the Catholic community, under your guidance, needs to offer a clear and united witness on such matters. Even more important, though, is the gradual opening of the minds and hearts of the wider community to moral truth. Here much remains to be done. Crucial in this regard is the role of the lay faithful to act as a “leaven” in society. Yet it cannot be assumed that all Catholic citizens think in harmony with the Church’s teaching on today’s key ethical questions. Once again, it falls to you to ensure that the moral formation provided at every level of ecclesial life reflects the authentic teaching of the Gospel of life.

9) Promote Family Life

How can we not be dismayed as we observe the sharp decline of the family as a basic element of Church and society? Divorce and infidelity have increased, and many young men and women are choosing to postpone marriage or to forego it altogether. To some young Catholics, the sacramental bond of marriage seems scarcely distinguishable from a civil bond, or even a purely informal and open-ended arrangement to live with another person. Hence we have an alarming decrease in the number of Catholic marriages in the United States together with an increase in cohabitation, in which the Christ-like mutual self-giving of spouses, sealed by a public promise to live out the demands of an indissoluble lifelong commitment, is simply absent. In such circumstances, children are denied the secure environment that they need in order truly to flourish as human beings, and society is denied the stable building blocks which it requires if the cohesion and moral focus of the community are to be maintained.

10) The Sexual Abuse Crisis in America (his second major address on this topic)

Among the countersigns to the Gospel of life found in America and elsewhere is one that causes deep shame: the sexual abuse of minors. Many of you have spoken to me of the enormous pain that your communities have suffered when clerics have betrayed their priestly obligations and duties by such gravely immoral behavior. As you strive to eliminate this evil wherever it occurs, you may be assured of the prayerful support of God’s people throughout the world. Rightly, you attach priority to showing compassion and care to the victims. It is your God-given responsibility as pastors to bind up the wounds caused by every breach of trust, to foster healing, to promote reconciliation and to reach out with loving concern to those so seriously wronged.

Responding to this situation has not been easy and, as the President of your Episcopal Conference has indicated, it was “sometimes very badly handled”. Now that the scale and gravity of the problem is more clearly understood, you have been able to adopt more focused remedial and disciplinary measures and to promote a safe environment that gives greater protection to young people. While it must be remembered that the overwhelming majority of clergy and religious in America do outstanding work in bringing the liberating message of the Gospel to the people entrusted to their care, it is vitally important that the vulnerable always be shielded from those who would cause harm. In this regard, your efforts to heal and protect are bearing great fruit not only for those directly under your pastoral care, but for all of society.

If they are to achieve their full purpose, however, the policies and programs you have adopted need to be placed in a wider context. Children deserve to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships. They should be spared the degrading manifestations and the crude manipulation of sexuality so prevalent today. They have a right to be educated in authentic moral values rooted in the dignity of the human person. This brings us back to our consideration of the centrality of the family and the need to promote the Gospel of life. What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today? We need to reassess urgently the values underpinning society, so that a sound moral formation can be offered to young people and adults alike. All have a part to play in this task – not only parents, religious leaders, teachers and catechists, but the media and entertainment industries as well. Indeed, every member of society can contribute to this moral renewal and benefit from it. Truly caring about young people and the future of our civilization means recognizing our responsibility to promote and live by the authentic moral values which alone enable the human person to flourish. It falls to you, as pastors modelled upon Christ, the Good Shepherd, to proclaim this message loud and clear, and thus to address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores. Moreover, by acknowledging and confronting the problem when it occurs in an ecclesial setting, you can give a lead to others, since this scourge is found not only within your Dioceses, but in every sector of society. It calls for a determined, collective response.

Support for Good Priests

Priests, too, need your guidance and closeness during this difficult time. They have experienced shame over what has occurred, and there are those who feel they have lost some of the trust and esteem they once enjoyed. Not a few are experiencing a closeness to Christ in his Passion as they struggle to come to terms with the consequences of the crisis. The Bishop, as father, brother and friend of his priests, can help them to draw spiritual fruit from this union with Christ by making them aware of the Lord’s consoling presence in the midst of their suffering, and by encouraging them to walk with the Lord along the path of hope.

11) Holiness of Life

If you yourselves live in a manner closely configured to Christ, the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep, you will inspire your brother priests to rededicate themselves to the service of their flocks with Christ-like generosity. Indeed a clearer focus upon the imitation of Christ in holiness of life is exactly what is needed in order for us to move forward. We need to rediscover the joy of living a Christ-centred life, cultivating the virtues, and immersing ourselves in prayer. When the faithful know that their pastor is a man who prays and who dedicates his life to serving them, they respond with warmth and affection which nourishes and sustains the life of the whole community.

Time spent in prayer is never wasted, however urgent the duties that press upon us from every side.

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As the pope celebrates the first Mass on his pastoral visit, I just want to harken back to his speech last night to the 300 plus bishops and cardinals in America.

First of all I have to say I’m really beginning to like this guy. His subtle personality traits that are revealed when he talks to old friends show a different side of the man known as “God’s Rottweiler.” The lightest moment happened when one of his close cardinal friends asked one of the three questions. The Holy Father smiled with a twinkle in his eye and said something like, “Ah yes, I remember the interesting discussions we used to have.” The whole room erupted in laughter.

This is a side of the pontiff that America has never seen. And we like it, and I think the pontiff likes it as well. And as his trip progresses we’ll probably see more of his personality. It’s like the bookworm in school who was never popular but had a few close friends. And then suddenly his talents somehow saves the day (we’ve all seen those kinds of movies) and then becomes everyone’s hero.

The change of stature makes him a little more outgoing, a little more apt to show his personality. That’s what I’ve seen in Pope Benedict XVI. He came here to change America, to strengthen the Catholic Church here. But he probably didn’t expect that he himself would be changed.

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This morning we are up at 3:00am to head to the Nationals’ baseball stadium for the first public mass of the Pope’s visit to the United States. Here is a note I received from a friend of mine, a young man named Mathias in his second year of law school here in Washington D.C. I’ll post more later today from the stadium, but wanted to at least leave you all with this:

God bless, Father Jonathan

Who is the Holy Father?  Before today, as a Catholic, I thought the answer was more-or-else straight-forward: the head of the Church and Christ’s vicar on earth. Today, I learned the answer was far, far, more simple.

It was about 5:20 when I had the opportunity to see the Pope pass by in his custom-built “popemobile”. He came by slowly. Inside the car’s glass bubble, this humble priest smiled and waved to the crowd, and since he drove slowly, he took the time to look at us each individually. His glance was full of life and his spirit radiated a glowing and unmistakable message: peace.

Today the Holy Father became for me a messenger of peace. So often political leaders and others talk of peace, but this man lives it. And it shines forth in his life. His predecessor John Paul II was a rockstar, and his example of faith drew an enthusiasm for Christ, especially for us, the young. Benedict’s personal presence makes a quiet invitation: to think, to reflect, and to attempt to live peace. His message has been so simple since the beginning of his papacy, and his theme for this trip, “Christ is Our Hope”. Nothing could possibly be more attractive.

Given this man’s wisdom, even more exciting than seeing him is listening to his words. And his message to the Bishops inside the Basilica was quite simple: pray, pray, and pray. And he preached by example tonight, leading the Bishops in the traditional prayer of psalms and hymns that all priests and many lay Catholics say daily.

That Christ’s messenger of peace would lead through the example of his life of prayer with all of us speaks volumes to me. It is a silent invitation that I know he invites each of us to share in our lives and with each other.

That’s who the Holy Father is: a man of prayer, a man of peace.

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So I stopped into the DC Bureau and people are obviously busy with pope coverage. I did have a chance to meet up with the Fox News Edge folks, who we work with all over the globe on breaking news. Here’s a little video I threw together.

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It was a very nice gathering on the White House lawn for the Pope’s 81st Birthday. What struck me most about Pope Benedict XVI and President Bush’s appearance at the White House was the overwhelmingly strong solidarity the president showed for the pontiff.

In his speech, the president mentioned St. Augustine, the fifth century philosopher and theologian from which Pope Benedict has fashioned many of his theological ideologies. The president also talked about life being sacred, a reference to the ongoing conflicts over abortion. And the president also used the pope’s own phrase “the Dictatorship of Relativism” when referring to ideas of “right and wrong” being rooted in absolute standards and principles.

My friends on the ground at the event fed me some of their own observations. Dr. Deal Hudson author of “Onward Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States.” (Simon and Schuster), wrote me this paragraph of his impressions, right after the event.

“The biggest event in the history of the White House was a great success with a spontaneous “Happy Birthday” sung to the Holy Father by an obviously-adoring crowd. The President’s mispronunciation of St. Augustine’s dictum “pace tecum” seemed not to be noticed, and the Protestant setting of the Lord’s Prayer sung powerfully by Kathleen Battle was well-received. But it was the all-male version of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” that had many in the crowd wiping their eyes as His Holiness clearly showed his enjoyment of the all-American hymn. There were no surprises in the prepared remarks — the real story was the size and warmth of the crowd and the obvious respect and affection of President Bush toward Benedict XVI. “

Also phoning in his impressions, Carl Anderson, the head of the Knights of Columbus in America. Mr. Anderson said the event “seemed more like a festival than a reception.” He also noted the president picking up on the pope’s phrase, “The dictatorship of relativism.” Carl said, thinking back to 1979 when Pope John Paul II visited Jimmy Carter at the White house, he didn’t remember that event being so festive. Today’s event had a special feel and the president was trying to drive home the point that this is “One Nation Under God.”

What you didn’t see from the various camera angles were many of the dignitaries and leaders of other faiths present. One that has a special bond with the Holy Father is Archbishop Demetrius, head of the Greek Orthodox Church in America. He knows the pope quite well and was even his interlocutor on the pontiff’s trip to Europe. According to the Greek Orthodox Church spokesman, the Vatican considers Archbishop Demetrius the highest ranking christian in America. That is why on Friday you will see him being seated last before the pope enters St. Joseph’s Parish for the Ecumenical meeting.

And finally the Holy Father’s words. I agree with Deal that there were no surprises, but digging deeper into his words you’ll find affirmation to bringing your faith into the marketplace of ideas. He said: “…to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate.” It’s another reference to his greatest theme of Reason and Faith, that you can find faith through reason, not blind emotion.

Next up… the Solomn Vespers and the meeting with the Bishops later today. This could be the place he makes his first reference to the priest sex abuse scandal.

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As I listened to the speeches President George W. Bush and Pope Benedict XVI delivered on the lawn of the White House, my thoughts turned to what might have been going on in the hearts of each one…

First the president:

As I said on-air, the content of the president’s speech could have been written by the pope himself.  That’s how close these two men are on so many issues.  President Bush chose to highlight the sacredness of human life, the rejection of religiously-motivated violence, the complimentary relationship between faith and reason, and the danger of moral and religious relativism.  How happy the president must have been to be able to speak with such conviction about his own core values in front of a man with the pope’s moral stature.  Here is a born-again Methodist speaking to a Roman Catholic pope from the heart.  America is a great country!

The president must have felt some degree of discomfort as well knowing the Holy Father’s concern for the situation in Iraq and the Middle East.  It seems the president did what he thought was the best thing.  The result has been less than pretty — something Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger predicted before the invasion — even as we recognize the significant improvement of conditions on the ground.  This has to weigh heavy on the president’s heart and mind.

But perhaps the beauty of the moment gave the president some relief from the tension he must be under.  Maybe having this opportunity to showcase to the pope the goodness of the American people—our spiritual sensitivity, our strong will in the face of economic, political, and military challenges, our love for freedom, truth, and justice proved a moment of personal rejuvenation for President Bush.  I hope so…

Now, the Holy Father:

Well, more on this later … I’ve got to go back on set.

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I’m happy to report there were no injuries among the news-nerds boarding the papal flight this time.

When we were going to Turkey, one of them tripped another coming out of the bus that took us to the plane, sending him rolling on the tarmac. But the fallen nerd got right back up, and despite a sprained wrist still made it to the front of the press section, just to prove that he may be a news-nerd, but he’s not a total nerd.

There aren’t a whole lot of scuffles on papal trips, although once the photographer from Time Magazine did deck a guy who was crowding his space. The judges awarded the Time guy a TKO, but I think he eventually lost the lawsuit from the guy who lost his teeth.

Pope Benedict came to the back of the plane to answer a few questions, on the sex abuse crisis, on immigration, on the United Nations and human rights, and on United States as a model of religious freedom and a secular state.

On sex abuse, Benedict said it was time to heal the wound, and the crisis has meant much suffering for the Church in the U.S. “and for me personally,” adding that on reading the cases that arrived in Rome it was difficult for him to understand how priests betrayed their mission. “We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry,” he said.

Photographing the Pope; Papal headrest

The Pope looked liked he was in good shape, slightly tanned and patient as usual with all the flurry around him. Benedict XVI said he was making the trip in a spirit of joy: “I know this great country, and the liveliness of the Church there, despite the problems.”

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Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to report live outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 5th Avenue here in New York, to preview the security measures that will be taken to protect the Pope. It will be an impressive undertaking by the NYPD, Secret Service, and Vatican Swiss Guard, which will join together and provide “360 degrees” of security around the spiritual leader.

After hearing from our security experts about bomb sniffing dogs, roof top snipers, hovering helicopters, divers in the waters that surround Manhattan, and armored limos, one thing is clear, the Pope’s visit to the Big Apple will be a well protected one.

The Pope has a full agenda here in New York, with visits scheduled at the United Nations, Ground Zero, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, St. Joseph’s Church and Yankee Stadium. I am thrilled to be a part of our Fox News team coverage, and will be doing live reports from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers Friday and will also be doing Pope reports Saturday (location yet to be determined) . I have been looking forward to this for a long time, and am honored to be in the company of our religious correspondent Lauren Green, Religion Contributor Father Jonathan, and our Rome Bureau correspondent Greg Burke. Full disclosure: I am not Catholic, so a lot of what I am researching for my assignment is new to me, which makes it such a thrill. I feel like I am studying for a big exam, that I can’t wait to take.

After I wrapped up my security preview Sunday, I wanted to check out the St. Patrick’s Cathedral gift shop, where I have heard Pope Benedict Memorabilia has been flying off the shelves, like T-shirts, pins and customized rosaries.

Several of Pope Benedict XVI’s Books were also on display, including “Joseph and Chico”

And, one of the most coveted items, has been the Pope coffee mug, it was sold out when I first went to the store, but the store got some back in stock yesterday…

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Pope Benedict XVI is now on the plane and soon to land on U.S. soil in a matter of hours. My thoughts on this visit are aplenty.

What will he say when he first speaks to the American people? What will he say to President Bush during their “private chat?” What kind of impact will he have on Catholicism and Christianity in America and the world? Yes, there are several planned speeches and events, but this pope’s mission goes far beyond the printed materials, or media ratings and sound bites. What we all must be cognizant of during the pontiff’s five days here is that his measure of success is not as the secular world would gauge.

I’ve admired this pope since I began reading his many, many tomes concerning faith, spirituality, the church and its mission on Earth. Benedict is about planting seeds for the future. Not the future that ends up on the evening news, but the future as it is grounded in the present understanding of a deeper more lasting faith … a future that may take 10 to 20 to 100 years to unfold.

He’s a theologian and scholar who sometimes overestimate the knowledge of his audience. But that is precisely why I call on OUR audience to listen carefully to what he says regardless of whether you agree with him or not. Because what he says has weight; what he says WILL influence those who can shift the tide of political and spiritual views; And also, what he says is grounded in deep intellectual research and ponderings. He does his homework, and carefully chooses his words.

Heavy and weighty talk is a little like listening to classical music. If you’re not used to it, five minutes of it will seem like 50, and pretty soon you tune out. DON’T DO IT HERE!

Like in Regensburg, Germany where the pope’s words ignited a firestorm of anger in the Muslim world, here in America his words will have world influence. He’s coming to the media capital of the world and talking to the largest cross section of people. A diversity of cultural, intellect, politics, races and yes religions awaits him. He will throw off the mantel of being “God’s Rottweiler” as Cardinal Ratzinger, or of living in the shadows of the charismatic John Paul II.

When Pope Benedict alights from the steps of the Alitalia plane called “Shepherd One,” he will emerge with his own mission. And it’s a mission for these times, and tailored to his suit his strengths. He will lay down the intellectual gauntlet of faith and reason as two pillars of God’s truth. He will tackle the secularism of the western world, and challenge people to find a faith based on reason, not the Enlightenment version that claimed you could be “good” without God, but a version that says if God exists then I can find him through reason.

Ruth “Bunny” Graham, Billy Graham’s third daughter, told me last week that God has a way of raising people to fit the times. It is just possible that God has risen Pope Benedict XVI for such a purpose as well. Just as John Paul II helped bring down the iron curtain, Benedict XVI could very well bring down religious fanaticism that is the greatest political and cultural challenge of our day.

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Pope Benedict is now on a plane. Some have called it “Shepherd One”, but in fact, it is an ordinary “Alitalia” plane. It does not belong to the Vatican. The tradition has been for Alitalia—Italy’s national carrier—to transport the pope, his entourage, and reporters on his first leg of an international trip and for an airline of the host country to do the return trip. This time, the pope will travel round-trip on Alitalia. Maybe he was afraid of getting his flight canceled if he were on an American carrier?! Probably not.

I am waiting in New York to do color commentary on set for Shepard Smith who will do live coverage of the 4:00pm (US Eastern) touchdown. Word is already out about the five questions reporters have asked the Holy Father on the plane. One of them was about the sexual abuse scandal in the United States. Since the questions had been previously reviewed and accepted by the Vatican’s communication department, the fact the pope answered this question in particular means he wanted to tackle the issue right from the start.

Keep in mind, before he became pope, Pope Benedict was in charge of the Vatican department responsible for reviewing the files of priests who had been accused of abuse. He knows from the inside the terrible nature of abuse. Listen to what he said this morning on the plane, as reported by the Associated Press. Note that when he says “Church” he is referring to all of its members, including the victims.

It is a great suffering for the church in the United States and for the Church is general and for me personally that this could happen. It is difficult for me to understand how it was possible that priests betray in this way their mission … to these children. I am deeply ashamed and we will do what is possible so this cannot happen again in the future. We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry. It is more important to have good priests than many priests. We will do everything possible to heal this wound.

For some context, take a look at this in-depth study about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church between the years 1950 – 2002. It was executed by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Since most people ask me about the prevalence of abuse during these years, I have extracted a few paragraphs from the study that give actual percentages of the total number of priests who have been accused (not necessarily convicted) of sexual abuse of boys or girls under the age of eighteen. Here they are:

The total number of priests with allegations of abuse in our survey is 4,392. The percentage of all priests with allegations of sexual abuse is difficult to derive because there is no definitive number of priests who were active between the years of 1950 and 2002. We used two sets of numbers to estimate the total number of active priests and then calculated the percentage against whom allegations were made.

We asked each diocese, eparchy and community for their total number of active priests in this time period. Adding up all their responses, there were 109,694 priests reported by dioceses, eparchies and religious communities to have served in their ecclesiastical ministry from 1950-2002. Using this number, 4.0% of all priests active between 1950 and 2002 had allegations of abuse.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) reports a total of 94,607 priests for the period 1960-2002. When we look at the time period covered by the CARA database, the number of priests with allegations of sexual abuse is 4,127.

If you review the whole John Jay Study you will see that most of the accusations were not actually of pedophilia (abuse of young children), but rather of “post-pubescent” young men by priests and religious who took advantage of circumstances and their moral authority to have homosexual sex with young men. This too is abuse, but we should make note of the nature of the problem in order to make sure it never happens again.

While the sexual abuse scandal was all over the news for many years, how the Catholic Church has responded since is less well known. The American bishops have adopted a “no tolerance” policy. Any priest who has been “credibly” accused of abuse (as determined by the local bishop even before a trial) must be immediately removed from public ministry. Perhaps even more importantly, the conference of bishops commissioned a complete review of all seminaries (schools for men studying for the priesthood) in the United States. This included an analysis of the selection and formation process of all seminary students. This includes psychological examination of all candidates.

So there you have it; if the first hours of his trip are indicative, it seems Pope Benedict XVI is keenly aware of how this scandal has affected the church in the United States.

Perhaps the Church has been sufficiently humbled to be ready for this pope’s message of renewal and hope.

What do you think? See you at 4:00pm!

God bless, Father Jonathan

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There are two theories about flying with the pope. One is that the plane will never go down. The second is that if it does, everyone goes to heaven.

Apparently Benedict is going to answer five questions for us on the flight. There’s always a huge scrum to get seats at the front. At the front of the back, that is. All the Vatican hotshots are up front, and 50 or so journalists are in economy, although the price is anything but economical. (We normally get first class food, though, if that’s any consolation.)

In the journalist section, the news nerds are in the front, the cool calm people in the middle (that’s where FOX will be) and the photographers in the back, so they can make a quick exit and get a shot of the pope after we land. The photographers all look like guys (although there’s one woman among them) who only put on their ties three times year, when they’re on the papal plane.

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1- Top Photo: News conference on board. To the left of the pope is Cardinal Bertone, the secretary of state, and to his right is papal spokesman Fr. Lombardi.

2— Half of a pope trip is waiting in line.

This is outside the cathedral in Sao Paolo. Everyone seems to be asking, “Are you going to let us in?”

3— No talking in church.

Once inside the cathedral, with Tricia Thomas of APTN, Associated Press Television.

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Here we go … today, I begin a stint of daily blogging on these pages about Pope Benedict’s visit to the United States.

There will be a plethora of information on television and the Internet about all of the events, but here I want to offer you something different; an analysis and discussion of the pope’s message as it relates to our personal lives and the future of our country.

A word about method. We will go against the facile approach you will see in many media outlets that will fixate on fabricated and stale controversy. They will refer to the pope as a hardliner (as did the New York Times this morning) because he actually believes and teaches Catholic doctrine. They will say he is divisive and has a public relations problem because some radical Muslims were offended by his rejection of religiously motivated violence. They will call him naïve when he speaks at the United Nations and outlines a path for arriving to a universal consensus about human rights and religious liberty. They will say he is irrelevant because many Catholics are not going to church and don’t all follow Church teaching on core issues.

Instead, I will try to summarize and offer context to the pope’s daily message and analyze his interlocutor’s responses. We won’t avoid real controversy and the tough questions, but we won’t manufacture things for our own purposes.

I will keep in mind a very broad audience — Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals, and non-Christians of all stripes.

Let’s start by looking here at some data about the pope’s approval ratings, church attendance, and the spirituality of Catholic youth from a new poll released by Georgetown University. It is interesting that only one third of the country’s 65 million Catholics attend mass on a given Sunday. But just as significant, in my opinion, is that the poll found that Catholics born before 1960 — among the most faithful parishioners — and those born since the 1980s have similar outlooks. In other words, today’s youth are not following their parents, who in the 1960’s and 1970’s famously threw out tradition for a free-loving and Godless approach to life.

What data in this poll do you find of interest? What would you like the pope to talk about on his trip? If you are not a Catholic, are you interested in his trip, and why?

Write your comments below and I will post another blog this afternoon to continue the discussion.

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