澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-09-17

Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in the United Kingdom. The 83-year-old Pontiff was greeted by the Queen in Edinburgh before celebrating Mass for 70,000 Scottish Catholics.

He told the crowd that secularism¹ in the UK threatened to damage society and that he was shocked about child abuse by priests in the church. Our Europe correspondent Emma Alberici reports.

Before the plane had even touched down, the Pope was addressing the topic chief among the minds of many Britons awaiting his historic visit to the UK.

Clerical child abuse, he said, had shocked and saddened him. The authority of the church had not been sufficiently² vigilant³ and was too slow to act. Helping⁴ the victims recover and renew their faith was his priority. There was no mention of the serious crimes or of allegations of the cover-up by the Vatican. Instead, the Pope labelled pedophilia an illness. At Holyrood Palace, 500 years of division between the Catholics and the Anglicans were put aside as the Queen welcomed her guest.

"We hold that freedom to worship is at the core of our tolerant and democratic society."

Like all state visits, the anthem⁵ was played as the head of the Holy See blamed atheism⁶ for The Holocaust⁷ and said that religion was the only path to peace.

"Today, the United Kingdom strives to be a modern and multicultural⁸ society. In this challenging enterprise, may it always maintain its respect for those traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate."

More than 125,000 flag-waving pilgrims lined the streets of Edinburgh to watch the Popemobile go by.

"My husband and I are both Roman Catholics and we are just very excited about what just come through to Edinburgh and be part of it."

"It's a once in a lifetime, chance for me , really."

Protesters called for the Vatican to hold an inquiry⁹ into sex abuse to recognize homosexuals and to respect women's rights. But further down the road, as 70,000 mostly young revellers gathered at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, the mood was more pop concert, less papal mass.

"Everybody is excited and most are students. That's great."

He stopped like all good leaders to kiss a baby, perhaps trying to deflect¹⁰ his image as a shy academic.

"Forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting¹¹ life."

As the Pope makes his way to the capital, he's hoping to bring a message of tolerance¹² and peace to a society, he believes, has been damaged by secularism.

The Pope will meet the prime minister tomorrow. Unlike the previous papal visit in 1982, this is the first time in history that a British government has actually invited the Pontiff to the UK.

Emma Alberici, ABC News, London.

1 secularism   

n.现世主义；世俗主义；宗教与教育分离论；政教分离论

参考例句：

• Unless are devoted to God, secularism shall not leave us. 除非我们奉献于神，否则凡俗之心便不会离开我们。 来自互联网
• They are no longer a huge threat to secularism. 他们已不再是民主的巨大威胁。 来自互联网

2 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

3 vigilant   

adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的

参考例句：

• He has to learn how to remain vigilant through these long nights.他得学会如何在这漫长的黑夜里保持警觉。
• The dog kept a vigilant guard over the house.这只狗警醒地守护着这所房屋。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

6 atheism   

n.无神论，不信神

参考例句：

• Atheism is the opinion that there is no God.无神论是认为不存在上帝的看法。
• Atheism is a hot topic.无神论是个热门话题。

7 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

8 multicultural   

adj.融合多种文化的，多种文化的

参考例句：

• Children growing up in a multicultural society.在多元文化社会中长大的孩子们。
• The school has been attempting to bring a multicultural perspective to its curriculum.这所学校已经在尝试将一种多元文化视角引入其课程。

9 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

10 deflect   

v.(使)偏斜，(使)偏离，(使)转向

参考例句：

• Never let a little problem deflect you.决不要因一点小问题就半途而废。
• They decided to deflect from the original plan.他们决定改变原计划。

11 everlasting   

adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的

参考例句：

• These tyres are advertised as being everlasting.广告上说轮胎持久耐用。
• He believes in everlasting life after death.他相信死后有不朽的生命。

12 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。