WASHINGTON -- Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the campus of the Catholic University of America yesterday afternoon proved the perfect cathartic experience for the Griffin family.

On the same day last year, they were fretting about their son Bobby, a resident in West Ambler Johnston Hall at Virginia Tech. He was not injured in the shooting rampage but, his mother said, he had no interest in being on campus a year later for the anniversary.

"We thought it was fitting to be here," said Virginia Griffin of Sterling, Va., as she waited on the lawn outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for the pope's arrival. "We thank God every day."

Not far away, the Rev. Thomas Nathe, from the archdiocese of Seattle, was basking in a beautiful spring afternoon on a college campus he referred to as "a Catholic Disneyland."

He'd just figured out how to take a picture with his cell phone and was awaiting his chance to photograph the pope.

On cue, the pope's entourage motored onto campus, giving Nathe, the Griffins and a few others a perfect view from the relative quiet of one corner. Further down, a crowd estimated at 8,000 gathered for a glimpse.

At the Immaculate Conception shrine, the pope attended an evening prayer service with hundreds of U.S. bishops. Afterward, the Most Rev. Paul S. Loverde, bishop of the Diocese of Arlington, said, "The Holy Father presented a very confident, hope-filled, concrete plan to engage our parishes here and beyond."

Addressing the bishops, Benedict commented on the clergy sex abuse scandal, saying, "It was sometimes very badly handled," according to The Associated Press.

"He acknowledges how painful it has been for the church and how painful for the victims," Loverde said. "In acknowledging it he was honest, very realistic about bringing to victims ways to heal and reconcile."

Earlier yesterday, there was a similar crowd scene near the White House as the pope left a meeting with President Bush.

In the blocks surrounding the White House -- along the route the pope traveled in his popemobile -- the crowd was shoulder-to-shoulder and stretched for blocks. Pennsylvania Avenue was blocked off in front of the Treasury Department and the White House, but nearly every other space in the vicinity was occupied.

In the mix on a beautiful afternoon were Catholics to cheer on the pope and a wide mix of people protesting everything from the church's stance on sexual morality to religion itself.

In one case, there even were two high school girls, from Chantilly, Va., protesting the protestors. They were missing school, Christina Shepard said, so they "could shout real Bible verses at them."

Standing opposite them in Lafayette Park were a half dozen women protesting the Catholic church's stance on abortion and its reaction to the priest sex-abuse scandal. They shouted their own versions of Bible verses in off-color language.

Being outnumbered was of no concern to Becca Romer, the other of the Chantilly pair.

"I'm a cheerleader," she said coolly. "I can outshout them."

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or reid@timesdispatch.com.

Neil H. Simon of Media General's Washington bureau contributed to this report.