NEW YORK: Pope Benedict XVI paid a solemn visit on Sunday to the site of the attacks of Sept 11, 2001, in New York before celebrating a huge mass at Yankee Stadium to close a historic US visit.

The pope pleaded for an end to sectarian hatreds as he prayed at Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers stood before hijackers rammed passenger planes into the skyscrapers, killing nearly 3,000 people.

“We ask you in your goodness to give eternal light and peace to all who died here,” Benedict beseeched God after blessing the ground in all four directions. “Heal the pain of still-grieving families.

“Bring peace to our violent world ... turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred,” he said.

The pope had arrived at the former World Trade Center site in his white Mercedes-Benz popemobile, which drove slowly down a ramp that straddles the hole in the ground where the twin towers used to stand. He descended some three-quarters of the way down the ramp and walked the final few meters to kneel in silent prayer.

Then, as a blustery wind blew, he lit a white candle within a glass tube, before intoning his prayer and blessing the ground.—AFP