VALLETTA, Malta — With tears in his eyes, Pope Benedict XVI made his most personal gesture yet to respond to the clerical sex abuse scandal Sunday, telling victims the church will do everything possible to protect children and bring abusive priests to justice, the Vatican said.

Benedict met for about a half-hour with eight Maltese men who say they were abused by four priests when they were boys living at a Catholic orphanage. During the meeting in the chapel at the Vatican's embassy, Benedict expressed his "shame and sorrow" at the pain the men and their families suffered, the Vatican said.

The pontiff told the men that the church would "implement effective measures" to protect children, the Vatican said, without offering details.

"Everybody was crying," one of the men, Joseph Magro, 38, told Associated Press Television News after the meeting. "I told him my name was Joseph, and he had tears in his eyes."

Lawrence Grech, who led efforts to arrange the encounter, said the pope told each of the men: "I am very proud of you for having come forward to tell your story."

KRAKOW, Poland — Tens of thousands of Poles bade farewell to President Lech Kaczynski on Sunday at a state funeral filled with pomp, pride and an outpouring of patriotism that his divisive and unpopular leadership had never generated.Mourners applauded and chanted "We thank you!" as the caskets bearing Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, were carried slowly past pale-toned Renaissance buildings for burial among kings and poets in the ancient Wawel Cathedral."Poles finally appreciate him," said Ryszard Stolarski, 56, one of many weeping mourners. "I never imagined that Poland would honor Kaczynski in this way."Many world leaders, including President Barack Obama, could not be there because their travel plans were wrecked by the enormous plume of volcanic ash that blanketed Europe.The funeral came eight days after the Polish air force Tupolev 154 crashed on approach to Smolensk, Russia. The worst tragedy to strike Poland since World War II killed the first couple and 94 other people, including top civilian and military leaders.In some ways the tragedy, and Russia's response, appear to have begun the long process of finally healing wounds that have soured the two nations' relations for decades.

JIEGU, China — Rescuers pulled out a 4-year-old girl and a Tibetan woman alive from the earthquake rubble more than five days after they were trapped, as trucks carrying aid and equipment rolled into this shattered town in western China.China Central Television said the pair had been trapped under a bed in a collapsed mud-built house in a village about 13 miles from the hardest-hit town of Jiegu, until rescuers dug them out today.Relatives kept Wujian Cuomao, 68, and Cairen Baji alive by sending them food and water through gaps in the rubble with the help of bamboo poles, state broadcaster CCTV said. The report showed the white-haired woman waving her arms as she was lifted onto a stretcher and put in an ambulance.She was in critical condition, CCTV said, while the child was suffering from heart problems due to trauma.The death toll from the quake in Qinghai province rose to 1,944, the official Xinhua News Agency said today. More than 12,100 people were hurt. At least 1,100 bodies were cremated or buried by Saturday, according to the provincial civil affairs department.