Pope arrives home from US trip

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

ROME (AFP) — Pope Benedict XVI arrived home Monday from his six-day trip to the United States.

The specially chartered Alitalia plane touched down at Rome's Ciampino airport at around 10:40 am (0840 GMT).

During the visit the pontiff paid a solemn visit to the site of the attacks of September 11, 2001, in New York before celebrating a huge mass at Yankee Stadium to close a historic US visit.

The pope pleaded for an end to sectarian hatreds as he prayed Sunday at Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers stood before hijackers rammed passenger planes into the skyscrapers, killing nearly 3,000 people.

"We ask you in your goodness to give eternal light and peace to all who died here," Benedict beseeched God after blessing the ground in all four directions....