The Pope on the USA

"Benedict, who has often spoken favorably about how Americans observe their religious beliefs, was also asked, on the plane, whether he felt America could serve as a model for a Europe, which is far more secularized.
“Certainly Europe can’t simply copy the United States,” he said. “We have our own history.” But he said the United States was interesting because it “started with the positive idea of secularism.”
“This new people was made of communities that had escaped official state purges and wanted a lay state, a secular state that opened the possibility for all confessions and all form of religious exercise,” he added. “Therefore it was a state that was intentionally secular. It was the exact opposite of state religion, but it was secular out of love for religion and for an authenticity that can only be lived freely.” NYT.