Pope arrives in United States
'Pakistan Times' Wire Service

MARYLAND: Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the United States to a presidential handshake and enthusiastic cheering.

It was a warm welcome that followed the pontiff's candid admission hours earlier that he is "deeply ashamed" of the clergy sex abuse scandal that has rocked the American church.

On his first papal trip to the US, Benedict gave hundreds of spectators a two-handed wave as he stepped off a special airliner that brought him from Rome yesterday.

Students from a local Catholic school screamed when they saw the pontiff, who shook hands with President George W Bush, first lady Laura Bush.●