Pope to visit New York in 2007?

(AP Photo/Jens Meyer)


Jun. 05 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI might travel to the US in 2007, according to an Italian newspaper report.

The daily La Stampa reported on June 2 that the Vatican is weighing a papal voyage that would include stops in New York, Caracas, and Mexico City early in June 2007. The newspaper reports that the Vatican is trying to make the most of a trans-Atlantic trip to which the Pope is already committed, to attend the meeting of the Latin American bishops conference (CELAM) in Aparecida, Brazil, at the end of May 2007.

Three subsquents stops in the Western hemisphere are under consideration, La Stampa reports. Pope Benedict could go first to Venezuela, for a visit that would show his support for the Catholic hierarchy there in its confrontation with President Hugo Chavez. The Pope's stop there would also provide a forum for a talk on the challenges facing all of Latin America. Next the Pope could head to Mexico, for a visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The final stop under consideration would be New York. Pope Benedict would reportedly like to pray at "Ground Zero," the site of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. There he could make a speech on the problem of terrorism. It is possible, too, that the Holy Father could speak at the UN, following the example set by his predecessors Pope Paul VI (in 1965) and Pope John Paul II (in 1979 and again in 1995).
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