Pope ends US trip with visit to Ground Zero

Pope Benedict XVI will end his six-day tour of the United States today with a visit to Ground Zero, the scene of the September 11 attacks in New York. He will then celebrate mass in the Yankee stadium.

Yesterday, the Pope marked the third anniversary of his election by urging American clergy to seek "purification" after the child abuse scandal in America – the fifth consecutive day he has mentioned the controversy – and celebrated mass in St Patrick's Cathedral, New York. The 81-year-old pontiff, who lamented "division between different groups, different generations, different members of the same religious family", asked God to grant the US church "a renewed sense of unity and purpose" so that it could "move forward in hope, in love for the truth and for one another".