Pope's 1st U.S. visit scheduled for April

The Associated Press

Pope Benedict XVI greets the faithful Saturday in St. Peter’s square at the Vatican. The pope will visit the U.S. in April, making stops at Ground Zero and the United Nations and holding Mass at Yankee Stadium.

Baltimore — Pope Benedict XVI will travel to the United States for the first time as pontiff next year to meet with President Bush, address the United Nations and visit Ground Zero, a Vatican official told American bishops yesterday.

The pope also will celebrate Mass at the new Nationals Park stadium and Yankee Stadium during the April 15-20 visit to Washington and New York, according to Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Vatican ambassador to the United States.

The pope will participate in an ecumenical service at a New York parish yet to be identified. He will also celebrate Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral and will participate in a youth event at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers.

Cardinal Edward Egan said in a statement yesterday that he assured the pope of "a warm and prayerful welcome" in the Big Apple.

The announcement comes as the 67 million-member American church is grappling with a priest shortage and an often alienated flock, and is still recovering from the clergy sex abuse crisis. American dioceses have paid more than $2 billion in settlements with victims since 1950.

"It's a shot in the arm for the U.S. Catholic Church, which is enduring one of the most protracted crises in its history," said Scott Appleby, a University of Notre Dame historian who specializes in religion.

The visit coincides with the third anniversary of Benedict's election to succeed Pope John Paul II on April 19, 2005.

John Paul's five visits to the United States during his pontificate were major events. When he arrived at New York's Madison Square Garden in 1979, a school band welcomed him with the theme from "Rocky."

The late pontiff's charisma and personal warmth attracted tens of thousands of people to his appearances and buoyed the American church.

Benedict, a theologian, spent more than two decades as the Vatican's chief orthodoxy watchdog before becoming pope, earning a reputation — considered unfair by his supporters — as a dour enforcer of Catholic teaching.

"I don't think he is going to make the sort of impact John Paul did. Benedict can't do it and doesn't want to do it," said James Hitchcock, a Catholic historian from St. Louis University. "I think it's a very different kind of appeal."

Record reporter Michael Randall contributed to this report.