Covering the pope (Nina Pineda)

It is amazing to witness the Catholic youth, all chanting, singing and praying together. They are not embarassed to express their love or their devotion to the pope of their generation. They call him B16, for Benedict the 16th.

(The aftermath of the youth rally)

We were moving through the crowd, talking to these young people, very representative of how the face of the Catholic church is changing. And they talked to us about the challenges they face, striving to live chaste lives and abstain from pre-marital sex, to keeping the sabbath and going to church on Sunday. And they are heartened, they are lifted to know that other teens are struggling and they can become better people and be closer to God if they all do this together at the same time.

(Field producer Maura Sweeney and photographer Todd Pierce after a long hard work day.)

From the T-shirts, to the dancing, the expression of faith is so representative of the creative ways kids are choosing to worship. They were told they aren't just the future of the church, they ARE the church.

(Nina and photographer Rob Cantwell)

To worship with Pope Benedict is a privelege, an honor those in attendance will remember for the rest of their lives. And so will we!

Headed to St. Joseph's Seminary

It is day two of the pope's visit to New York City, and while we are all tired from working 16 hour days, it's been a thrill to witness history in the making.

Right now, we have all been ''swept'' by the US Secret Service, which means they have checked all of the camera equipment and our bags with bomb-sniffing dogs and metal detectors. Once all is clear, we file onto secure buses to be transported en masse to the site we are covering for the pope's visit. Today, I am covering the rally in Yonkers at St. Joseph's seminary.

The bus has just started to leave Midtown, to the cheers or everyone on board. Everyone is acting like school kids, joking and chanting with the giddiness we feel covering a large scale event.

The Secret Service runs a very tight ship. There is no room for error here, and I've never witnessed more heavily armed bodyguards or tighter frozen zones prior to this, and that includes the UN General Assembly and Heads of State visits to New York City post 9/11.

Yesterday, at St Joe's on the Upper East Side, our photogrpaher accidentally stepped out of the barricaded area reserved for press, and a Secret Service agent made the ENTIRE Press Corps empty out of our ''pen'' so the dogs could resniff every bag and federal agents went through our equipment by hand.

Even the people who lived on the street (87th) weren't allowed to sit on their steps or even open their windows prior to and during the pope's service. It was wild. There were sharpshooters in the belltower and on rooftops all over.

Seeing the Pope 

I couldn't help but tear up and quickly tried to blink away my tears before going on the air. It's just incredible to be close to a person so many people around the world regard as the closest thing to God on Earth. Pope Benedict emerged from his Cadillac, with its bulletproof windows, and hugged babies on the steps of the church. He gently held the lucky infants faces and feet. He appeared so much gentler than the cardinal who earned the nickname ''God's rotweiller'' while still Cardinal Ratzinger before becoming Pope.

I immediately wished my own daughter could have been blessed by his holiness, but there was no way I could have brought her (Tea...8 months old) with me to work, because we were literally standing in the same place for about 8 hours and I worked from 9 a.m. until midnight yesterday.

It's been amazing to see the NYPD in action for the pope. They have secured this city down to an exact science, closing down blocks and containing people so well. A few blocks away, you'd never even know what was happening.

Everything went well Friday and we are all hoping the rest of the weekend will be safe and flawless.

I'll write again about the rally. It's a beautiful, sunny day at Dunwoodie, where the seminary is located. I'm sure we will all be inspired by the kids, the pope's message to them and, of course, Kelly Clarkson!!

Bye for now...Nina.

(Field Producer Maura Sweeney and Photographer Todd Pierce after a long hard work day.)