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	Pope Limits His 1st U.S. Visit to East Benedict XVI Has Mission, but He's No 'Barnstormer' like John Paul II By Manya A. Brachear Chicago Tribune November 13, 2007 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/religion/chi-pope_tuenov13,0,3323222.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout BALTIMORE - Unveiling a pilgrimage that many hope will restore energy to the mission of the Roman Catholic Church in America, Vatican Ambassador Archbishop Pietro Sambi announced Monday that Pope Benedict XVI will make his first papal trip to the U.S. next spring. But unlike the appearances of Pope John Paul II, who packed stadiums and drew scores of screaming fans on multiple visits to the U.S., Benedict's tour reflects the limitations of a man who was ready to retire when he was chosen to lead the world's 1 billion Catholics. The pontiff will arrive in the U.S. on the eve of his 81st birthday. And despite invitations to visit other major dioceses -- including Boston and Chicago -- he will stop only in Washington and New York during his six-day tour with two events scheduled most days, according to Sambi. He will visit both the UN and the White House. "This pope is not a barnstormer in the model of his predecessor. Where John Paul's trips were about energy, Benedict's are about focus," said John Allen, a Vatican analyst and columnist for the National Catholic Reporter newspaper. "The pope aspires to be the voice of conscience in the affairs of nations ... I think the feeling is that if he were to add sideshows that it would in effect dilute the focus of the main message that he's coming to deliver." But the decision to bypass Boston, where the sex abuse crisis that rocked the American Catholic Church surfaced in 2002, may be more than a consequence of his frailty. Some say a visit there would have distracted audiences from the pope's multifaceted mission, which includes reflections on religion and violence at ground zero and meetings with seminarians and heads of Catholic colleges and universities on spiritual formation and Catholic identity. "We should make the visit of the pope a moment of assurance to those who have left the church in the last year, an invitation to return," Sambi said Monday during an address to the nation's Roman Catholic bishops. "This is possible to think less to the suffering of the past and more to the problem of the future," he said. As the new head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George will welcome the pope to the U.S. and accompany him on both legs of the apostolic trip. Most papal tours are not announced until three months in advance, and details are often not released until weeks ahead of time. But Sambi took advantage of the bishops' annual meeting to release plans for Benedict's first visit to the U.S. as pope. Also unlike papal trips of the past, Benedict will land on American soil at the peak of primary season, when Republicans and Democrats are selecting their candidates to run for president. "Frankly if the Vatican has a concern about this trip that's it," Allen said. "They're worried about the trip being manipulated or instrumentalized by one party or another to score political points." According to Sambi, the itinerary begins with the pope's arrival in Washington on April 15. He will receive a White House welcome April 16, his 81st birthday, and meet with U.S. bishops at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The centerpiece of his tour will be a papal address to the United Nations on April 18. On April 19, the third anniversary of his papal election, Benedict will celebrate a mass with priests, deacons and members of religious orders at St. Patrick's Cathedral. On April 20, he will visit ground zero, the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center "to show solidarity with those have died, with their families and with all those who wish an end of violence," said Sambi. The pope will celebrate a public mass at Yankee Stadium later that day. Recalling a phrase Pope John XXIII used to describe Vatican II, Sambi said he hoped the papal visit would bring "a new spring, a new Pentecost in the church of America." Papal itinerary April 15, 2008: Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Washington. April 16: On his birthday, he visits President Bush at the White House and meets with U.S. bishops at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. April 17: Celebrates a public mass at the Washington Nationals' stadium. Meets with Catholic university presidents and other diocesan heads of education, and attends an interreligious event at the John Paul II Cultural Center. April 18: Addresses the United Nations in New York. Attends an ecumenical event at an unnamed parish in New York. April 19: Celebrates mass with priests, deacons and members of religious orders at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Attends a youth event at St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. April 20: Visits ground zero, celebrates a public mass at Yankee Stadium. Contact: mbrachear@tribune.com
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