On the third anniversary of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has celebrated Mass in St Patrick's cathedral in New York.
A crowd of hundreds, pressed against metal barriers outside the 150-year-old cathedral, erupted in a cheers as Benedict descended from a black stretch limousine on Fifth Avenue minutes earlier and climbed the few steps to the entrance of the church.
There, beneath the Gothic spires, he was welcomed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, before turning to raise both hands in greeting to the cheering crowd.
With applications to the priesthood falling and inner city Catholic schools closing, the Pope is trying to rally the spirits of a Church recovering from the scandal of sexual abuse of minors by US priests.
The scandal broke in 2002 and has forced US dioceses to pay more than $2bn in damages.
Five have gone bankrupt.
Pope Benedict, 81, met victims of clerical sexual abuse in Washington on Thursday.
Three of them later praised him for receiving them and speaking frankly about the scandal.
The Pope has addressed the UN during his US tour and also became the first Pontiff to visit a Jewish place of worship in the US.
Tomorrow, he will visit New York's Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center towers were destroyed on 11 September 2001.
He will also celebrate Mass at Yankee Stadium.
The German-born Pope is on a six-day visit to the US, his first as Pontiff.
