On the Boeing 777 with the pope

A Catholic Digest Papal Exclusive

It isn’t an easy thing to take a more than 10 hour flight across the Atlantic, especially when one is almost 81 years old. Pope Benedict is rested and prepared for this trip, which is particularly important to him; it’s his second papal trip outside of Europe and his first to the United States and the United Nations. He is in top form as he arrives at the airport, right on time as usual. At noon, the Alitalia Boeing 777 lifts off the runway with the pope, accompanied by 30 prelates, among them Cardinals James Stafford and William Levada, and about 60 journalists from many countries grouped together at the back of the plane.

He is delighted, he says, to come to meet a great people and a Church that he sees as very dynamic

Once in the air, the pope holds a little press conference with the journalists on board, responding to their questions with visible pleasure. He is delighted, he says, to come to meet a great people and a Church that he sees as very dynamic, and especially to celebrate the bicentenary of the oldest dioceses along the East Coast. “This is a good time to reflect on the past,” he notes, “but especially to look toward the future.”



Pope Benedict XVI likes the United States. He came here many times before becoming pope, and says he is “fascinated” by a society that has such a positive idea of the place of religion in society — so different from Europe, even though, he admits, “Europe isn’t able to simply copy the American model.” This pope, known for being an intellectual, quotes Alexis de Tocqueville, who had analyzed the secular American system.

But the American Church has been traumatized by the pedophilia scandal and the pope knows it. He is going to give the message many in the Church have waited to hear — condemning the scandal in very harsh words, words that, until now, we haven’t heard from the Vatican. “I am deeply ashamed,” he says. “It is 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.”

	NATIONAL ANTHEM Pope Benedict XVI and U.S. President George W. Bush listen as the U.S. national anthem is played during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House April 16 in Washington. (CNS/Nancy Wiechec)

The pope is very firm about the need to act justly. And, he says, “We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry,” adding that pedophilia is “absolutely incompatible with the priesthood.” To make sure of being understood, Pope Benedict speaks in English, an English he has mastered perfectly, an American journalist whispers to me.


The press conference over, the journalists get busy on their computers while the pope returns to his compartment in the front of the plane for the rest of the flight. It’s dinner-time, and a simple Italian menu is served: pasta, fish, and raspberry mousse for dessert.

After dinner each journalist attends to their own business — reading, sleeping… In front of us, all is silent in the pope’s compartment.

Some hours later we look out the windows and admire the snowy landscape of the New World, of Quebec, and then the outline of the American coast comes into view, with New York in the distance. At 4 p.m., the plane arrives at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C. The sky is blue, and a playful wind lifts up the pope’s cap as he descends the steps of the plane and is greeted by President and Mrs. Bush and one of their daughters: Welcome to America! CD

Isabelle de Gaulmyn is the Rome correspondent for the French newspaper La Croix, a Bayard publication, and is one of the journalists accompanying the pope on this visit. Translated by Dan Connors.