The Pope in Yonkers

Dave Hartline sends along his story for Zenit on the youth rally in Yonkers, at which the Pope gave the longest address of his apostolic visit.

Dave attended the rally with his wife, and provides his reflection on the event at The Catholic Report:

... As one person stated, it was as if Pope Benedict XVI was at the plate in Yankee Stadium down by three runs with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth. He hit a grand slam. The crowd was electrified by his appearance. Perhaps because of the dizzying array of those entertainers who were literally fish out of water, the crowd was worked up into a frenzy awaiting the Holy Father’s appearance. It took Pope Benedict several minutes to calm down the crowd as they chanted, sang and thanked him in many languages. His address was something akin to what you might have seen in the Early Days of the Church, the Successor St Peter addressing his flock from a grassy perch while the parched and famished followers were held in rapt attention. The urgency in his message and the length of it, the longest of any of his talks or homilies was not lost on this spiritually hungry crowd. At the conclusion of his address, the bases were cleared and the Doubting Thomases walked away knowing that it was none other than the much maligned Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI who did the unthinkable, make this event a stunning spiritual success...

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