Young Catholics Are Prime Audience for Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. Visit

The pope's six-day visit begins Tuesday in Washington, D.C., where he will be greeted by President Bush. He will hold a mass for 47,000 at the city's new baseball stadium Thursday, and visit Catholic University.

On Friday, the Catholic pontiff travels to New York City for visits to the United Nations and Ground Zero, the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He will also hold mass April 20 in Yankees Stadium.

The hottest ticket in town

	The pope will draw thousands to mass during his trip to America, and tickets to the ceremonies are hard to obtain.

And with so many U.S. Catholics, tickets to the few public events are hot items.

The Washington Diocese was given 45,000 tickets to the D.C. mass, 14,000 of which went to 120 Catholic dioceses outside the Washington area.

The Diocese of Greensburg, outside Pittsburgh, received 25 tickets each for Washington and New York.

"We understand. We had hoped to get more. We knew it was tight to begin with. Given the number of requests, how are you going to get upset?" diocese spokesman Jerry Zuflet told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

An appeal to young Catholics

	Pope Benedict hopes to reach out to young Catholics during his trip to America.

"One of the things he said early on was the church is always young. It's always there for young people. I think young people see that in this pope. They hear in his message words of hope, words of challenge," Wuerl told the Pittsburgh newspaper.

One of those lucky young people is teen Greg Bim-Merle of St. Joseph's Parish in La Porte, Ind., who won a lottery for tickets to a youth rally at a New York seminary.

"The odds of getting chosen are very one in a million, so I think there is a reason; something good will come of it,"Bim-Merle told the local ABC News affiliate.

The young people attending the events think the pope will be inspired by their presence, too.

"In this world, there are so many youth that are just completely messed up and searching for truth and peace in the wrong places so when he sees a huge group of youth that are concentrated on the Eucharist and on doing God's will, I think it gives him a lot of hope for the future generations," Indiana teen Brianna Erne, told Chicago's ABC7 News.

Making the pope more accessible

	American Idol star Kelly Clarkson will sing "Ave Maria" at the pope's New York mass.

"It's our duty as Catholics to make sure that the teachings of the church are passed on to the next generation, and one way to do that is to make youngsters want to hear them by presenting them in a way they can relate to," 33-year old Mark Nelson, head of the company that is creating official merchandise for the papal visit, told Agence France-Presse news agency.

Items for sale include T-shirts that list the sites of the pope's visit - like a concert tour - and shirts that look like popular sports designs that state, "Property of Pope Benedict XVI."

In addition, American Idol pop star Kelly Clarkson will sing at the New York mass, though she intends to sing "Ave Maria" not her hit "Since U Been Gone."

The pope will also be presented with a skateboard by a New York skateboard club that held a contest to create a design commemorating his visit.

Protests planned

Young Roman Catholic activists are also prepared for a busy week: Washington and New York will host protests on issues ranging from the ordination of women and gay rights to sexual abuse by priests and the Vatican ban on contraception.