At a time when many dioceses are closing down parochial schools for K-12 students, Benedict stressed the importance of keeping them open, especially to serve immigrants and the underprivileged. He also used the occasion to clarify limits, saying that although academic freedom is valuable, it must not be used to “justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church.”

Image Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his first public Mass in the country on Thursday morning before tens of thousands of people at Washington Nationals stadium. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times

He had additional healing work to do at his evening encounter with Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and Jain religious leaders. On a previous trip, to his German homeland, Benedict had set off a paroxysm of anger with comments that appeared to denigrate Islam. He has also offended Jewish leaders by reinstituting a prayer for the conversion of the Jews in the Latin prayers on Good Friday.

On Thursday, he offered an olive branch to Jewish leaders, and affirmed that all religions should have a common goal of working for peace. But he also issued a challenge, saying that interfaith dialogue that does not deal with existential “truth” is insufficient. And he talked of the need to protect religious freedom, pointing out that religious minorities in some countries are subject to discrimination and prejudice.

For years, victims of abuse in the United States had beseeched the Vatican for a meeting with the pope, first asking John Paul II, who died in 2005, and finally, six years after the outbreak of the scandal, one was granted. The scandal affected nearly every diocese in America, revealed more than 5,000 abusive priests and more than 13,000 victims and has cost the church more than $2 billion in settlements and legal fees. It also has cost the church trust and respect, both of which the pope is clearly aimed at restoring.

But reaction from victims and their advocates varied, with some praising the meeting as an important step and others saying that still it was not enough.

“This is a small, long-over due step forward on a very long road,” Joelle Casteix, southwestern regional director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement. “We’re confident the meeting was meaningful for the participants and we’re grateful that these victims have had the courage to come forward and speak up.