Welcome Pope Benedict

By Sam Lucero
News and Information Manager

	Related article this week: • Guest column by Archbishop Timothy Dolan --     Pope Benedict's visit to America invites us to a renewal of faith

Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. visit next week is sure to generate a lot of publicity from the mass media. The pope's itinerary and a summary of each of his stops are available on the Catholic News Service Web site, where a separate page - www.catholicnews.com/papalvisit - is devoted to the trip.

Among the highlights of Pope Benedict's visit will be an April 17 address to Catholic college presidents (St. Norbert's outgoing president, William J. Hynes, will reportedly be in attendance) and Catholic school superintendents at The Catholic University of America. His address will be on the importance of Catholic education.

Later that day, Benedict will meet with leaders of non-Christian faiths. His address to Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu leaders, among others, should be one to remember. Violence in the Middle East, and the U.S. involvement in Iraq, will surely be addressed.

Other notable events will be an April 16 meeting with President Bush, an address to the United Nations followed by an ecumenical prayer service April 18, a meeting with young Catholics (including hundreds of seminarians) at St. Joseph Seminary in Younkers, N.Y., on April 19, and a visit to ground zero and Mass at Yankee Stadium on April 20.

Next week, The Compass will provide coverage of the pope's first Mass at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. Roundup coverage of the trip will appear in the April 25 edition. For updates go to our Web site, www.thecompassnews.org, as well as these official papal visit sites:

• U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: www.uspapalvisit.org
  
  
• Archdiocese of Washington: www.adw.org/papalvisit
  
  
• Archdiocese of New York: www.archny.org/papalvisit.