Pope Benedict XVI conducted a Mass of 46,000 people at a Washington, D.C., baseball stadium which was transformed into an enormous cathedral for a few hours.

The visit of the Roman Catholic Church leader gathered tens of thousand of believers at the town’s new stadium where the Pontiff spoke about hope, which he labeled as a "part of the American character."

In his sermon, His Holiness also spoke about the priests involved in the sexual abuse scandal.
The German-born pope seized the occasion to acknowledge the pain and harm done to the victims of the "tragic" sex abuse scandal which has cost the church at least $2 billion.

"No words of mine can describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse," Pope Benedict said.

The crowd of the new Washington Nationals ballpark sang along with four choirs led by celebrated tenor Placido Domingo to welcome the Pontiff as he was entering the stadium in his "pope-mobile."

Pope Benedict XVI insisted that the Catholic Church is "honestly and fairly” dealing with the pedophilia scandal so the children can grow up in a safe environment.

The sex abuse scandal started in 2002 when the archbishop of Boston acknowledged that he protected a priest who had sexually abused young members of his church. The archbishop’s confession set off a stream of similar cases to go public.

On the same day, the pope also attended a reception where he met President George Bush at the White House.

His Holiness is only the second Pope that meets a president of the United States at the Oval Office. The first was in 1979 when President Jimmy Carter welcomed Pope John Paul II.