THIRD 'SERMON ON THE MOUND'
At the departure ceremony at Kennedy Airport, Pope Benedict told Vice President Dick Cheney that Ground Zero would "remain firmly etched in my memory as I continue to pray for those who died and for all who suffer in consequence of the tragedy".
After a chilly start to the day in lower Manhattan, the sun came out in the afternoon in the Bronx when some 57,000 cheering people welcomed the pontiff to Yankee Stadium, known as "the House that Ruth built" after legendary 1920s slugger Babe Ruth.
There, he became the third Pope to deliver what has come to be known as "the sermon on the mound", a term coined in 1965 when Pope Paul VI said Mass there because the papal altar is near the spot where the pitcher throws the ball.
The crowd got on their feet and gave him an ecstatic welcome as he entered and rode around in a bullet-proof "popemobile".
Saying Mass from a yellow, white and purple altar platform, Pope Benedict said faith meant not being discouraged by difficulties, even when they enveloped the Church itself.
"It means not losing heart in the face of resistance, adversity and scandal," he said in his sermon, in an apparent reference to the sexual abuse scandal in the United States, a major theme of his trip.
The loudest applause came when the Pope denounced abortion, calling for protection of the rights of "the most defenceless of human beings, the unborn child in the mother's womb".
He also rejected "a false dichotomy between faith and political life", a reference to the Church's position that Catholic politicians cannot support abortion or gay marriage in the name of pluralism or democracy.
At Ground Zero, the passage in his prayer about those with "minds consumed with hatred" has stirred controversy because some people interpreted it as a prayer for hijackers who were killed in the attacks and their backers.
Asked about the prayer, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he had no concerns about the content.
"I think that he has always been a man of peace and a man who believes we should live together and he is praying for everyone," Bloomberg told Reuters at Ground Zero.
