buel_US_pope_17apr08 Lyrics

Tens of thousands of worshippers packed the stadium on a crystal clear day as Pope Benedict, dressed in scarlet vestments, arrived in the white popemobile.The pontiff led the service from a towering white and gold altar erected in a new baseball stadium.
Benedict told the crowd that the world is at a crossroads. On the one hand he says it is a time of great promise, but the pope says there are also clear signs of what he called a disturbing breakdown in the foundations of society.
Signs of alienation, anger and polarization on the part of many of our contemporaries, increased violence, a weakening of the moral sense, a coarsening of social relations and a growing forgetfulness of Christ and God," said Pope Benedict.
Benedict says Americans have always been a people of hope and told the faithful their ancestors came to this country with the expectation of finding new freedom and opportunity.
But the pontiff says that promise was not fulfilled for all in America.

"One thinks of the injustices endured by the native American peoples and by those brought here forcibly from Africa as slaves. Yet hope, hope for the future, is very much a part of the American character," he said.