Cheers, pop music welcome pope in Yankee stadium

by Karin Zeitvogel Sun Apr 20, 2:33 PM ET

NEW YORK (AFP) - Tens of thousands of New Yorkers erupted in cheers, waving white and yellow handkerchiefs to welcome Pope Benedict XVI to Yankee Stadium for the final event of his US visit -- a huge outdoor Mass.

Benedict circled the inside of the stadium with the windows to his popemobile rolled down so he could wave to his fans.

The white robes of Roman Catholic deacons filled bleachers next to a rainbow of baseball caps, shirts and jackets worn by the thousands of faithful who had made the pilgrimage to what is usually a shrine to baseball for the Mass to be celebrated by Benedict.

Nuns stood and clapped to the music as a singer-guitarist belted out "Lean on Me" from a chair on the white, purple and yellow platform.

Some 20 meters behind him -- roughly where second base would have been -- the Vatican coat of arms towered over the papal chair and a white altar.

A Mexican wave -- when row after row stand up and raise their arms in the air -- unfurled through the upper seating level, with Roman Catholic clerics joining in as readily as lay people.

Deacons, priests, choir singers and members of the public filed into their places. It was hard to spot an empty seat in the 55,000-capacity stadium, which buzzed with anticipation, waiting for Benedict to arrive.

Around 50 young people paraded around the outside of the ball field, holding large doves of peace fashioned out of cloth, before a flock of doves was released and soared skyward.

Benedict will become the third pope to celebrate Mass at Yankee Stadium, after Paul VI in 1965 and John Paul II in 1979.

"The visit by his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI is wonderful for New York, our nation and indeed the world," George Steinbrenner, the German-American owner of the Yankees baseball team, said in a statement.

"His message of brotherhood rings loud and clear. We welcome him to Yankee Stadium with respect, reverence and enthusiasm," the statement said.

The Mass is the last event on Benedict's six-day visit to the United States, which has taken him to Washington and New York.

Earlier Sunday, Benedict pleaded for an end to sectarian hatreds as he became the first pontiff to pray at Ground Zero, the site where nearly 3,000 people died in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

During his first visit as pope to the United States, Benedict has also become the first to celebrate Mass at New York's famed St Patrick's Cathedral and the first to visit a synagogue on US soil.

Benedict celebrated his 81st birthday at the White House on April 16, and the third anniversary of his election to the papacy in New York Saturday.

He has not shied away from controversial issues that have scarred the US church, repeatedly addressing the sex scandal that has rocked it and driven away many faithful.

Among scores of people pressing against metal barricades outside Yankee Stadium, a handful of signs also recalled the sex scandal, denouncing "Roman Catholicism is the devil" or screaming out: "Priests rape boys."