Pope Benedict XVI shows a personal side in New York

The pontiff humbly describes himself as a 'poor successor' to St. Peter and brings up his youth amid Nazism.
By Tracy Wilkinson
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 20, 2008

NEW YORK -- Admirers saw an unusually personal side of Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday when he ad-libbed a reference to his faults and sins and later spoke of the "sinister" Nazi regime that was the backdrop of his youth.

Both passages uttered by the pope were remarkable in their frankness and came as the German-born theologian observed the third anniversary of his election as pontiff.

On the penultimate day of his six-day pilgrimage to the U.S., Benedict presided over Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan and exhorted members of a depleted priesthood to overcome hurtful divisions and act "as beacons of light" in the service of the church. Later in the day he turned his attention to the next generation of church leaders, telling a huge youth rally of the "limitless expanse of the horizons of Christian discipleship." the rest image