1.   This, where the pope blesses the flock!

2.   Earlier Sunday, the pope blessed a new church in Rome dedicated to Jose Maria Escriva, a Spaniard who founded the Opus Dei lay religious group.

3.   During the meeting the pope also blessed a torch the trekker is carrying across Canada.

4.   Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters later that the pope had blessed the small crowd from the air as the helicopter hovered over the wooden chapel.