POPE BENEDICT XVI was pegged as a stay-at-home, traditional guardian of church doctrine when he was elevated as leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics. It turns out he travels well, as evidenced by his expansive six-day visit to the United States.
Benedict, who came to prominence as a theologian, connected with Americans of many faiths through his simple preaching and pastoral work. Whether addressing diplomats at the United Nations or praying with victims of clergy sexual abuse in a Washington chapel, he took exquisite care to uphold the dignity of every person.
Bostonians were disappointed to learn that Benedict would not be visiting the city where survivors and their supporters first tore down the curtain erected by wayward church leaders to protect pedophile priests. But the 81-year-old pontiff did the next best thing by meeting individually with sexual abuse victims from Boston.
Those meetings came about, in part, due to the assertiveness of Cardinal Sean O'Malley, current leader of the Archdiocese of Boston. But it was Benedict who advanced healing in shaken parishes from coast to coast by expressing the church's deep shame and contrition.
Many Americans weren't quite sure what to make of this pope. In 2005, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he arrived with heavy baggage, including a compulsory stint with the Hitler Youth more than six decades earlier. A critic of modernity, he was known as the "battle tank cardinal" who had little use for the soft stops on the church organ. But his visit to New York revealed a compassionate leader who prayed for an end to hatred at the site of the Sept. 11 attack; stressed unity while making the first papal visit to a Jewish house of worship in the United States; and made people happy while celebrating Mass at Yankee Stadium.
It's not every visitor who stays less than a week and leaves his hosts thinking about a kingdom of justice and peace.
