Pope Benedict returned to Rome this morning after a six-day trip to the United States that ended with a visit to Ground Zero and a Mass for nearly 60,000 people at Yankee Stadium.
After an overnight flight, the Pope's chartered plane landed at Rome's Ciampino airport today.
His final day in the United States started with an eerie and sombre visit to the symbol of the 9/11 attacks by al-Qaeda. At Ground Zero, now a gaping crater, he prayed for the victims, their families and an end to hate and violence.
Pope Benedict at a ceremony at Ground Zero yesterday
In the most intense public portion of his first papal visit to the United States, Benedict blessed the area - considered hallowed ground by many - and comforted each of 24 special guests as a lone cellist played sombre music.
They were 16 relatives of people killed when the jets hit the towers and eight survivors - four World Trade Center workers and four first responders who rushed to help.
Fog shrouded tops of towering skyscrapers as the pontiff (81), dressed in a long white wool coat, read a prayer for those who died at Ground Zero, the Pentagon and on United Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers overwhelmed the hijackers.
"God of peace ... turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred," he said, after blessing the site with holy water and lighting a large candle symbolizing sacrifice and resurrection.
"Grant that those whose lives were spared may live so that the lives lost here may not have been lost in vain. Comfort and console us, strengthen us in hope, and give us the wisdom and courage to work tirelessly for a world where true peace and love reign among nations and in the hearts of all."
At the departure ceremony at Kennedy Airport, 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."
Reuters