In his first papal visit to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI was greeted by President George Bush when his plane landed an hour ago at Andrews Air Force Base.

It was the first time the president had traveled to the base to greet a dignitary.

En route to Washington D.C., Benedict addressed reporters on the plane where answered questions on the state of Catholicism. He began his brief press conference by expressing his disappointment and disgust regarding the child abuse scandal in Catholic churches throughout America.

It is a great suffering for the church in the United States and for the church in general and for me personally that this could happen,” Benedict said. “We are deeply ashamed. We will do what is possible so this cannot happen again in the future.”

The Pope said it was “difficult” for him to understand how priests could betray those who trust them.

Their mission was to give healing, to give the love of God to these children,” the pope said. “We are deeply ashamed and we will do what is possible that this cannot happen in the future.”

Benedict laid out a few plans to prevent mistreatment by training priests more efficiently and more discernment in the recruitment of priests. When asked about what he thought about religion and the US, Benedict applauded the history of secularism in America.

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This new people was made of communities that had escaped official state purges and wanted a lay state, a secular that opened the possibility for all confessions and all form of religious exercise,” Benedict said. “Therefore it was a state that was intentionally secular. It was the exact opposite of state religion, but it was secular out of love for religion and for an authenticity that can only be lived freely.”

Benedict will spend three days in the U.S. He will meet with Bush privately tomorrow, when they are expected to discuss issues such as immigration reform (due to the large population of Hispanic Catholics in the U.S.) and the war in Iraq (which Benedict opposes).

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