NEW YORK (CNN) -- Pope Benedict XVI delivered words of encouragement Friday to the United Nations General Assembly, urging the body not to grow faint in its support of human rights.

Addressing the hall of diplomats initially in French and then in English, Benedict delivered what amounted to an academic lecture punctuated by exhortation to do good in the world.

"The promotion of human rights remains the most effective strategy for eliminating inequalities between countries and social groups, and for increasing security," he said.

He said support for human rights is a way to head off violence, terrorism and war.

The pontiff's plane touched down at John F. Kennedy International Airport around 9:30 a.m, slightly earlier than it had been scheduled.

His three-day visit to New York is the second leg of the pope's six-day trip to the United States -- his first since he was elected to the papacy.

His address to the U.N. General Assembly Friday morning linked his visit to the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United Nations adopted on December 10, 1948.

"Questions of security, development goals, reduction of local and global inequalities, protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate, require all international leaders to act jointly and to show a readiness to work in good faith, respecting the law, and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the planet," the pope said.

It is the fourth time a pope has visited the United Nations; Paul VI visited in 1965, and Pope John Paul II visited in 1979 and 1995. VideoWatch Benedict's arrival in New York »

Later Friday, he will visit Park East Synagogue, one of the leading Orthodox Jewish congregations in the country.

He scheduled to celebrate Mass Saturday at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue and visit the former site of the World Trade Center ahead of celebrating Mass at Yankee Stadium.

While in Washington, Benedict spoke and prayed with a small group of people who had been sexually abused by clergy members.

"They prayed with the Holy Father, who afterwards listened to their personal accounts and offered them words of encouragement and hope," said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, a papal spokesman.

The Thursday exchanges in a Washington chapel were honest and unscripted, according to some of the victims.

"I told him that he has a cancer growing in his ministry and needs to do something about it," Bernie McDaid, one of the victims, told CNN.

Another victim said his hope was restored after meeting Benedict. "He first apologized," Olan Horne said. "He seemed to intrinsically understand what we were talking about."

"I gave him pictures of me as a child -- the innocent child -- and said, 'I want you to leave these on your desk. When you come to a point -- or a decision that you have to make -- don't protect me; protect the 9-year-old child in that photo,' " Horne said.

Horne said the victims were allowed the time necessary to say what needed to be said, which impressed him.

The intimacy of Thursday's meetings contrasted greatly with his Mass from earlier in the day, at Washington's new ballpark, where as many as 46,000 worshippers listened to his 20-minute homily.

There, under clear skies, he urged hope, repentance, unity and reconciliation among the nation's 70 million Catholics.

"It is in the context of this hope, born of God's love and fidelity, that I acknowledge the pain which the church in America has experienced as the result of sexual abuse of minors," Benedict said. "No words of mine could describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse. It is important that those who have suffered be given loving pastoral attention."