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Pope Benedict to visit US in 2008
By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer


BALTIMORE - Pope Benedict XVI will make his first visit to the United States as pontiff next year, and plans to visit the White House, ground zero and speak at the United Nations, Archbishop Pietro Sambi told the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Monday.

Benedict will travel to Washington and New York from April 15-20, speak at the United Nations on April 18 and visit ground zero on the final day of his trip.

The pope will visit the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York to show "solidarity with those who have died, with their families and with all those who wish an end of violence and in the search of peace," said Sambi, the Vatican's ambassador to the U.S.

The visit will take place on the third anniversary of Benedict's election to succeed Pope John Paul II, who died in April 2005.

An official welcome reception for Benedict will be held at the White House on April 16, Sambi said. The pontiff will celebrate two public Masses, first at the new Nationals Park in Washington on April 17, and again at Yankee Stadium on April 20.

He will also hold meetings with priests, Catholic university presidents, diocesan educators and young people.

"The pope will not travel much, but he will address himself to the people of the United States and the whole Catholic Church," Sambi said.

www.yahoo.com [yahoo.com]

I live in DC, and while I'm excited that he is coming, I'm disappointed the Pope won't celebrate an open-air Mass on the Mall. It's going to be hard to get tickets to the Stadium Mass he is having!

But I'm not surprised at his decision. As Cardinal Ratzinger, he was somewhat critical of some of the problems associated with the open-air Masses said by JPII.

But when is he coming to Ireland?

Fr. Serge

And the UK ?

And the Midwest?

What did he criticize about open-air masses?

His criticism has generally been directed at the "carnival" atmosphere of such events, and more specifically, the difficulty of maintaining reverence for the Eucharist in such a mass gathering. In one book, he even suggested that if one celebrated a Mass in a very large gathering, one could refrain from distributing communion due to the difficulty of distributing it reverently and efficiently.

What is all this "when is he coming to..?"_ fol-de-rol?
If I was Pope and his age, I'd stay in Rome and let youse guys
come to me. I am a Mets fan,and do you hear me moaning and
groaning that he is going to celebrate Mass in that Den of
Iniquity, Yankee Stadium, and not Shea Stadium? Na! Us people
from Brooklyn, we got respek', y'knowhadImean?

Edmac

And the University of Notre Dame?

Come on now, guys!

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, might be the Supreme Pontiff of the universal (Catholic) Church but it is not yet known whether he can be omnipresent or, at least, he has been bestowed the gift of bi-location!

Bi-location? Ha! They want him to be multi-locational:
Fr. Serge wants him in Dublin, and no doubt Cork, Waterford,
Limerick , Belfast, Galway and Garryowen as well; Dr. Eric wants
him in the Midwest: what would he settle for: Chicago, Topeka,
Kansas City, St. Louis, Tulsa, Davenport and where else; O.L.'s
Slave wants him in the UK: London, York, Birmingham, Manchester,
Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Douglas (Isle
of Man), the Channel Isles, and where else? You can tell this is
an Eastern Christian website. Everybody's bonkers. Except you
and me, of course, Amadeus.We haven't even heard from all the
rest of the world,either.

Edmac

Edmac,

I'd settle for St. Louis, KC, Chicago, Indy, or Louisville.

I'd prefer another Papal Trip to St. Louis though. Why do you think I'm here? What was the catalyst? What started my Metanoia?

Of course I was kidding about the Holy Father coming to the Midwest.
It would be nice though, I can't believe he's traveling as much as he is. Pius XII didn't go anywhere outside of Italy did he?

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And..... He's the Pope, he should bilocate!

I would be happy if he came to Pittsburgh.

Pope John Paul II was here - nine years before he became the Holy Father.