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Posted: Monday, 12 November 2007 12:23PM
No Phila. Stop for Pope Benedict?
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Pope Benedict XVI will make his first visit to the United States as pontiff next April. He plans to visit the White House and ground zero, and to speak at the United Nations. But his itinerary -- so far, at least -- doesn’t include a stop in Philadelphia.
Details of the visit were announced by the Vatican's US ambassador on the first day of this week's meeting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore.
Benedict will travel to Washington and New York from April 15th-20th, speak at the UN on April 18th and visit ground zero on the final day of his trip.
Outdoor Masses are planned in Yankee Stadium and in the Washington Nationals' new stadium.
The visit will coincide with Benedict's 81st birthday and the third anniversary of his election as pope.
The Philadelphia Archdiocese, as well as the archdioceses of New York, Boston and Louisville, are observing their 200th anniversaries.
Philadelphia archdiocesan officials are planning a special Bicentennial Celebration for April 8 of next year.
The last papal visit to this area was in October 1979, when Pope John Paul II celebrated an outdoor Mass on Logan Circle. More than a million people jammed the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the Mass.
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