WASHINGTON — In honor of Pope Benedict XVI, the nation’s capital  turned its brand new baseball stadium into a church. It made sense – Americans love baseball, and they love the new pope - he's got more than an 80 percent approval rating. 

But most American’s don’t know very much about him, and so the event last month was a time to put a face —and a voice — to the name, to the robe and to the current occupant of the Seat of Peter, who was on the third day of his visit to this country.

For some of the 50,000 in the stadium on a Thursday morning, it’s simply a “once-in-a-lifetime experience,” a phrase you hear often. Sometimes, it seems like people are there merely to meet someone of such great stature, like a really old and famous movie star.
 
For others, the experience of meeting the pope seems life-transforming.

“I love him….he’s brilliant,” said Friar Matt Foley, teacher at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore. “I wish I had him in my class… although I wouldn’t want to write a paper for him.”

Foley and his fellow friars said it is unfair to compare Benedict to his predecessor, John Paul II.  “God makes us all different,” they said.

“He’s just like anybody else… new on the job,” said Foley.

Benedict attracts the faithful and faith-shaken alike. Some have seen their beliefs weakened by war, death, or misdeeds from the Catholic Church itself.
 
Those with deep faith, however, say they find its depths to be bottomless. Being close to the pontiff is “like getting closer and closer to Christ,” said Mother Maria Della Caridad, from the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara.

Like the weather, which shifted from chilly to glorious that day, Benedict’s reputation is also in flux. Originally characterized as a strict and bookish theologian sure to bring a more conservative gravity to the Catholic Church, a new pope is emerging. This pope is interested in the environment, eager to personally apologize for the priest sex abuse scandal, and showing warmth that belies his age.

“I looked into his eyes, and I thought ‘these aren’t old eyes,’” said Elizabeth Mandapat, from Phillips, Maryland. She had been there since well before 6 a.m.
 “I feel so energized… It’s like I didn’t need any sleep,” she said. Mandapat is in her 60’s but giggles like a schoolgirl.

The stadium was both an impressive and unusual setting for the pontiff’s visit. For some, the filled seats were like being surrounded by “one big family.” On the other hand, the open-air feel of the event often led people to wander off and buy T-shirts or hot pretzels, or stand in long lines for the bathroom.

Not all the seats had a clear view of the pope, and in the nosebleed seats at the top  one woman shrugged and said, “not really,” when a reporter asked if she could tell what the pontiff was saying over the loudspeakers.

For most, the pope’s message of hope was undeniably clear.
 
Martha Onate came all the way from Chicago to stand outside National’s Park. “I didn’t have tickets,” she said, “but I came for the blessing.” She will be traveling to New York by train for the next part of the Pope’s journey.

And for some, the Mass served as an opportunity to sacrifice and achieve holiness, even if that meant not being there to see the pope.

Murphy Taylor received a ticket in a church lottery, but because he was too young to receive communion he gave his coveted papal ticket to his older brother, Cullen, who is nine.

“We didn’t even bribe him to do that,” his parents said. “But he’ll be getting a big present when we get home.”