Not really 'news' by now, but anything to get away from the nasties...Also, Beckford does give the news a fresh treatment.
The Pope will address half a million Roman Catholics at a series of open-air services on the first-ever papal state visit to Britain.
Benedict XVI is to hold Mass at a park in Glasgow and a prayer vigil in London, likely to be in Hyde Park, before he takes the unprecedented step of beatifying England’s next saint during a public event at Coventry Airport.
Huge crowds greeted the last Pope, John Paul II, when he visited the country almost 30 years ago, but numbers will be lower this time because of the demands of modern health and safety regulations and the fact that the current Pontiff will be 83 when he arrives.
The Pope will be received by the Queen at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, meet the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace and visit the Grave of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey, with tens of thousands more expected to line the route as he makes the historic four-day tour.
However he is also likely to repeat his criticism that the Government has restricted religious freedom in the name of equality, in a “major speech” to leading figures in British society at Westminster Hall.
The trip will not have some of the trappings of many state visits to Britain, such as a carriage procession up the Mall or a banquet at Buckingham Palace, but the cost has still been put at more than £15million even before security and policing are included. The Church is likely to pay for part of the expense.
Jim Murphy, the Scottish Secretary who is a Catholic and who is helping organise the visit, said: “This is an historic visit at an important time. The Pope will receive a very warm welcome from Catholics and people of all faiths.”
The Most Rev Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, said: “We are confident that the presence and message of Pope Benedict will encourage everyone to aspire again to a vision of life in our society marked by mutual trust, compassion and truth.”
But at a joint Church and state press conference where details were disclosed, he spoke of his concerns about Labour’s attempts to restrict the employment practices of religions in anti-discrimination laws.
Archbishop Nichols said: “The development of equality legislation is difficult and it does not proceed easily. We recognise in the attempts of this Government to formulate and carry forward good intentions, but we believe misjudgements at certain points.”
Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain between September 16th and 19th will in some respects echo that of his predecessor, who made the first papal visit to the country since the Reformation in 1982.
John Paul II’s six-day tour was not a state visit and was paid for by the Church. He held one open-air Mass at the old Wembley, attended by 80,000, another one at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow in front of 300,000 worshippers, and was greeted by more than 350,000 at Coventry Airport.
Benedict XVI will repeat his predecessor's journeys to Glasgow and Coventry but the third open-air event will be in a central London park rather than Wembley. The highlight of the public gatherings will be his beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman at the airfield in the West Midlands, which closed to passengers and freight last year.
It will be the first time that he has carried out such a ceremony since becoming Pope, and will give the title “blessed” to the Victorian convert in a crucial stage in the path to his canonisation.
The Catholic Church will have to allot tickets to the public Masses so that each parish can send a coachload of worshippers, as numbers are likely to be restricted, and will encourage others to watch television or internet broadcasts.
The Holy Father will also host a private "event focusing on education” at an as-yet undisclosed location, and will meet faith leaders including Dr Rowan Williams, the head of the Anglican Communion, at his London residence of Lambeth Palace.
Among the crowds lining the streets to see the Popemobile during the visit are likely to be protestors including atheists, equality campaigners and victims of clerical child abuse.
Asked if he thought the Pope would talk about the sex scandals surrounding the Vatican while in Britain, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, said:
"We do not know whether he will address that subject. We are quite a different country from Ireland, or France or wherever else.”
Pope Benedict XVI's visit:
The itinerary
by Martin Beckford
The main outline of Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to Britain between September 16th and 19th has been disclosed, although full details are not yet available:
Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. Pope Benedict XVI will be received by the Queen at her official residence in Scotland.
Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. The Pope will celebrate Mass at the open-air venue where Pope John Paul II was greeted by 300,000 Catholics in 1982.
Coventry Airport, West Midlands. He will beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman, who founded the Birmingham Oratory, during a public Mass at the now-disused airfield. This is a stage on the path to sainthood and will mean the Victorian theologian and convert to Rome is given the title “blessed”.
Hyde Park, London. Benedict XVI will hold his third public service, a prayer vigil, in a central London park rather than at Wembley Stadium as his predecessor did.
Westminster Cathedral, London. He will celebrate Mass before an invited audience at England’s primary Catholic church.
- There will also be a private speech about education at an as-yet undisclosed location.
Westminster Hall, London. The Pope will deliver a “major speech to British civil society” at the oldest building in Parliament where Sir Thomas More, the Catholic martyr, was sentenced to death.
Lambeth Palace, London. Benedict XVI, who recently set up a scheme for disaffected Anglicans to convert to Catholicism, will meet Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, at his historic residence on the banks of the Thames.
Westminster Abbey, London. Like most heads of state who come to Britain, the pontiff will visit the Grave of the Unknown Warrior. He will also pray at the Shrine of St Edward, King and Confessor, with the Archbishop of Canterbury.