Pope Benedict XVI starts historic tour in Britain

Tune in for the Pope's opening address and the Queen's welcome speech on FRANCE 24's live broadcast of the Pope's visit to Edinburgh at 12:40 pm (French time).

AFP - Queen Elizabeth II welcomed Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday for the first ever state visit to Britain by a pope.

The queen, wearing a matching grey dress and hat, shook the pope's hand as he arrived at the Palace of Holyrood, her royal residence in Edinburgh, from the city's airport.

They were then treated to a military display, and the pope removed his white skullcap as the British national anthem, "God Save The Queen", was played.

After meeting with more dignitaries, including the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, the pair entered the palace.

They exchanged gifts and then retired for a private meeting.

The pope acknowledged to reporters traveling with him from Rome that the Catholic Church failed to act decisively or quickly enough to deal with priests who rape and molest children and said the church’s top priority now was to help the victims. The comments marked his most thorough admission to date of church failures to deal with the sex abuse scandal.