NY Times

Gov. David A. Paterson and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg were already at ground zero when the pope arrived at 9:31 a.m. as was Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey.

The visit has particular significance for many survivors of 9/11, and relatives of victims who died in the World Trade Center, because a large proportion of those who died were Catholic. The Rev. Mychal F. Judge, a beloved Catholic chaplain for the Fire Department who died from falling debris on 9/11 and was listed as victim No. 1 by the city chief medical examiner's office, has become a larger-than-life figure for some. Pope John Paul II, Benedict's predecessor, condemned the 9/11 attacks as an "unspeakable horror" on the day they occurred. Pope Benedict, who was the church's top theologian before he was elected in 2005, has suggested that in an age of terrorism inspired by extremism, his church is a middle ground between godless rationalism and religious fundamentalism.

The service was held at the bottom of the giant construction ramp that goes into the construction site for the new towers rising at ground zero. (Construction has been suspended for the papal visit.) The papal motorcade, which had left the residence of the Vatican's representative to the United Nations moments earlier, traveled about halfway down the ramp. The pope and Cardinal Edward M. Egan, the archbishop of New York, exited the papal limousine at 9:42 a.m. and walked the rest of the way down the ramp alone. The pope wore a white overcoat - today's temperature in New York is somewhat colder than that of the past two days.

At 9:43 a.m., the pope knelt before a pool of water and a candle, offering a silent prayer for about two minutes. Then, with assistance from two clerical aides, he lighted a candle - apparently with a little bit of difficulty at first, perhaps because of technical problems.

The pope offered this prayer:

O God of love, compassion, and healing,
look on us, people of many different faiths and traditions,
who gather today at this site,
the scene of incredible violence and pain.

We ask you in your goodness
to give eternal light and peace
to all who died here-
the heroic first-responders:
our firefighters, police officers,
emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel,
along with all the innocent men and women
who were victims of this tragedy
simply because their work or service
brought them here on September 11, 2001.

We ask you, in your compassion to bring healing to those
who, because of their presence here that day,
suffer from injuries and illness.
Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families
and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy.
Give them strength to continue their lives
with courage and hope.

We are mindful as well
of those who suffered death, injury, and loss
on the same day at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Our hearts are one with theirs
as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering.

God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:
peace in the hearts of all men and women
and peace among the nations of the earth.
Turn to your way of love
those whose hearts and minds
are consumed with hatred.

God of understanding,
overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy,
we seek your light and guidance
as we confront such terrible events.
Grant that those whose lives were spared
may live so that the lives lost here
may not have been lost in vain.
Comfort and console us,
strengthen us in hope,
and give us the wisdom and courage
to work tirelessly for a world
where true peace and love reign
among nations and in the hearts of all.

Following the prayer, the pope used as aspergillum to sprinkle holy water in four directions, blessing the site. Then guests approached the pope individually for brief private exchanges; many of them knelt briefly before the pontiff and kissed his ring. One representative each from the families of 16 people who died in the World Trade Center attack were selected - from among more than 1,100 applicants - for a chance to be present and meet with the pontiff.

As each person approached the pontiff, Cardinal Egan read the person's name. Carter Brey, the principal cellist for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, played an elegiac musical selection to accompany the prayer service and meetings. The pope also spoke briefly to Mayor Bloomberg and Governors Corzine and Paterson. At 10:02 a.m., after making the sign of the cross, the pope walked back to the Popemobile and boarded the vehicle.

There is little doubt that 9/11 also had an impact on the thinking of Benedict, who at the time was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the church's top theologian. Russell Shorto tried to describe the pope's thinking in a cover article for The New York Times Magazine in April 2007:

The mistaken conviction that reason and faith are two distinct realms has weakened Europe and has brought it to the verge of catastrophic collapse. As he said in a speech in 2004: "There exist pathologies in religion that are extremely dangerous and that make it necessary to see the divine light of reason as a ‘controlling organ.' . . . However . . . there are also pathologies of reason . . . there is a hubris of reason that is no less dangerous." If you seek a way out of the vast post-9/11 quagmire (Baghdad bomb blasts, Iranian nukes, Danish cartoons, ever-more-bizarre airport security measures and the looming mayhem they are meant to stop), and for that matter if you believe in Europe and "the West" (the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, the whole heritage of 2,500 years of history), then now, Benedict in effect argues, the Catholic Church must be heeded. Because its tradition was filtered through the Enlightenment, the thinking goes, the church can provide a bridge between godless rationality and religious fundamentalism.