"Americans have always been a people of hope," he said during his homily at the Nationals Stadium in Washington. "Your ancestors came to this country with the experience of finding new freedom and opportunity."
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However, he said the promise "was not experienced by all", lamenting the "injustices endured by the native American peoples and by those brought here forcibly from Africa as slaves".
For the third time in three days, the Pope also spoke about paedophile priests, an issue that has dominated his US tour. "No words of mine could describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse," he said.
Before the trip, the Vatican had said that the issue was "closed" and that the Pope felt he would reopen old wounds by discussing paedophiles. But the Holy See has been forced to reverse its position by several American pressure groups.
Earlier, he castigated American bishops, saying that the issue was "badly handled". He told hundreds of bishops at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception that it fell to them "to address the sin of abuse".
However, the Pope said sexual abuse was no more common in the Church than in other areas of public life and condemned the "crude manipulation of sexuality so prevalent today".
Dressed in crimson vestments, the Pope also criticised so-called "weekend" worshippers, saying that he had come to the "troubling realisation" that Catholics were increasingly "inclined to embrace attitudes contrary to the truth of the Gospel".
He called for believers to cultivate "a mindset, an intellectual culture, which is genuinely Catholic" and to stand strong in the face of society's slippery morality.
"It is a time of great promise, as we see the human family drawing closer together, yet at the same time we see clear signs of a disturbing breakdown in the very foundations of society," he said."
He said America faced "increased violence, a weakening of the moral sense and a growing forgetfulness of God".
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