Pope Benedict said today he was "deeply ashamed" over sexual abuse by clergy in the United States and vowed to keep pedophiles out of the priesthood, as he began his first U.S. trip as pontiff.
His comments directly addressed one of the toughest issues facing him on the first visit to the United States by a pope since a wave of sex abuse scandals began in 2002 and forced the country's Roman Catholic dioceses to pay more than $2 billion in settlements.
Polls say three-quarters of U.S. Catholics have a favorable impression of the German-born pontiff, but just as many say they disapprove of the defensive way the Church initially responded.
"We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry," he told reporters on his flight to Washington.
The Church will do everything possible in screening candidates for the priesthood, he said, "so that only really sound persons can be admitted."
"It is more important to have good priests than to have many priests," said Benedict, who will be welcomed by U.S. President George W. Bush on arrival at Andrews Air Force Base this evening.
The pontiff said he would discuss immigration with Bush, especially the way it split families and strained "the moral and social fabric of these countries." Washington should help poor countries develop so people did not have to emigrate, he said.
Benedict is expected to discuss sexual abuse again during the six-day trip to the United States, during which he also will pray at Ground Zero, the site in New York where the World Trade Centre was destroyed on September 11th, 2001, and address the United Nations.
In his comments on the plane, Benedict said the sexual abuse scandal had caused "great suffering" to the Church in the United States and also "for me personally."
"It's difficult for me to understand how it was possible that priests betrayed in this way their mission to give healing, to give the love of God to these children," he said.
The pope, who will also mark his 81st birthday and the third anniversary of his election during the trip, has said he hopes the visit will lead to a spiritual renewal in America.