Masses will flock to
Birmingham for the Pope
Saturday 10th July 2010
Thousands of people will line the streets of Birmingham when Pope Benedict XVI visits the city in September.
It has been revealed he will be bringing two Popemobiles to the UK and it is hoped he will be using one on his journey through the city on September 19.
Lord Chris Patten met with council officers and police chiefs yesterday to discuss the final details of the event.
It is expected to cost taxpayers up to £12 million.
The Pope will hold an open-air Mass for the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.
Lord Patten, the former Governor of Hong Kong, was last month appointed by the Prime Minister to oversee the whole four-day visit.
There will be 70,000 free tickets for distribution by the Catholic Church – 100,000 fewer than if the event had been held at Coventry Airport as originally planned.
Lord Patten said:
“There will always be people disappointed.There would be if we had two or three times the amount of tickets but there has to be a decision about whether it is about the amount of people attending or the quality of the event.
“I’ve had people sending letters who were at the event in 1982 who talk about trudging four kilometres over fields through the middle of the night and they didn’t see him. That is not what we want to happen.”
Pope Benedict will visit Birmingham on the fourth day of his visit after Masses in Scotland and London.
He will arrive at Cofton Park, Rednal, on September 19, for the Mass at 10am. He will then make his way to the Oratory in Hagley Road before continuing to Oscott College in Sutton Coldfield, the town where Cardinal Newman lived. Cardinal Newman died in Edgbaston and was buried in Rednal.
Lord Patten said he wanted to make the Pope's isit to the principal Newman sites as much a part of the event as the Mass.
To file under the heading, DO WE REALLY CARE? HECK, NO!
Prince Charles set to
snub Pope's visit
by John Hooper in Rome
Friday 9 July 2010
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall met with the Pope last year at the Vatican.
The Prince of Wales is not scheduled to meet Pope Benedict during the Pontiff's historic four-day trip to Britain this autumn, according to sources close to the organisers of the visit.
They said at least one invitation – and possibly two – had been extended informally to the prince, but his name did not figure on the latest draft of the itinerary.
A Clarence House spokesman denied that the prince had wanted a one-to-one meeting or that he felt excluded. He noted that it was an official visit, hosted by the Queen, adding that the prince had an audience with the Pope at the Vatican in April 2009. The absence is nevertheless striking and unexpected, especially given Charles's interest in matters of faith.
[It would also be simple courtesy towards a guest of state, since he is the heir to the throne.]
The Pope's visit, from 16 to 19 September, will be only the second by a Pope to Britain, and the first state visit. When John Paul II came 28 years ago it was on a pastoral visit at the invitation of the local bishops and not – as on this occasion – as a guest of the government and the Queen.
The Pope is expected to begin his engagements by calling on the monarch at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The original intention on the Catholic side, two sources confirmed, had been that Charles would be present.
One noted that he planned to be on holiday in Scotland when the Pope's plane touched down. Yet, according to another source, only the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will greet the Pontiff.
The prince was also invited to an inter-faith event scheduled for 17 September at St Mary's University College, Twickenham, south-west London. It was felt that this would particularly appeal to his interests. One source said the prince had declined, while another merely confirmed that his name did not appear on the latest guest list.
In Rome the Pope's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, stressed that a detailed schedule had yet to be published. He said: "This week we released an outline draft of the itinerary."
A source said it was quite possible the Holy See had not played any direct part in discussions with Clarence House.
The prince's relationship with the Vatican is coloured by his divorce, and marriage to the divorced wife of a Catholic. But his private life did not stand in his way when he and his wife spent 15 minutes with Benedict in the Pope's study.
The prince went on to hold much longer talks with the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and other senior officials. The discussion included "the human promotion and development of peoples, environmental protection, and the importance of inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue for furthering peace and justice in the world".
It was Charles's first audience at the Vatican since his divorce from the Princess of Wales in 1996, and marked an important step in turning the former Camilla Parker Bowles into a royal consort.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/07/2010 19:07]