Feted at the White House on his 81st birthday, the Pope told the US's bishops that the scourge of clergy sex abuse had sometimes been "very badly handled" - and laid part of the blame for the scandal on the breakdown of values in American society. The pontiff's comments were his toughest critique yet of the US church's worst problem and marked the second day in a row that he addressed the abuse scandal.
The comments came as he addressed the nation's bishops at the imposing Immaculate Conception shrine.
Benedict XVI made the remarks as he celebrated an exuberant, rolling birthday party with American Catholics and political leaders on his first trip to the US since his papacy began three years ago.
Tens of thousands of people packed city streets and hung from balconies in Washington to catch a glimpse of the bullet-proof popemobile as the pontiff travelled from the White House to the papal residence.
The US church has been racked by falling attendance at mass and financial and other difficulties in recent years, most notably the sexual-abuse scandal that has resulted in the removal of many clergy from the ministry.
There are more than 60 million baptised Catholics in the US and the Pope's visit is designed to energise and revitalise the country's Catholic congregation.
Though generally viewed as less charismatic than his predecessor, the Pope is generating a high level of excitement on his US trip. John Paul II made five visits here during his 26-year year papacy and was greeted everywhere like a rock star.
The Pope told a gathering of bishops they had "sometimes very badly handled" the decades-old problem of pedophile priests. But he urged efforts "to address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores".
"What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?" he said on the first full day of his US visit.
He suggested as a remedy an urgent reassessment of "the values underpinning society".
Describing clerics who sexually abused children as "gravely immoral", the Pope warned that the scourge of pedophilia "is found not only in your dioceses but in every sector of society".
"It calls for a determined, collective response," he said, without outlining any firm action by the Vatican to purge the church of pedophile priests.
Instead, he had measured praise for the efforts made so far by the US church to heal the wounds left by the scandal.
"Your efforts to heal and protect are bearing great fruit," the Pope told his bishops. "Children deserve to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships."
The US church was plunged into the worst crisis in its 200-year history in 2002 when the Archbishop of Boston confessed he had protected a priest who had sexually abused young members of his church.
After the scandal blew up, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops drafted a charter for the protection of children.
Last year, 689 fresh allegations of abuse were lodged, and the church paid out $US615 million to settle child sex abuse cases involving members of the clergy.
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