Pope concludes US trip with Mass at Yankee Stadium in Bronx

NEW YORK — Pope Benedict XVI arrived in storied Yankee Stadium on Sunday for his final Mass in America, cheered by a joyous crowd after making a solemn stop at the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Tens of thousands of Roman Catholics filled the stadium, chanting, clapping and waving white and yellow handkerchiefs in the Vatican's colors as the white popemobile pulled in.

Outside the stadium, two yellow dump trucks filled with sand blockaded 161st Street before the Mass, an extra level of security along with the heavy police presence. Pilgrims without tickets pushed up against metal police barricades, hoping to get a glimpse of the arriving pope.

Inside the stadium, ad-splashed outfield walls were draped in white with purple and yellow bunting. A white altar perched over second base, and the papal seal covered the pitcher's mound, suspended by white and yellow ribbons.

"I have never seen Yankee Stadium so beautiful, and I have season's tickets," said Philip Giordano, 49, a tax attorney from Greenwich, Conn., who won seats in the loge section behind home plate through a parish lottery. "It sure beats sitting in my local church."

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Watch footage below of the celebration of Mass in Yankee Stadium: