New York Embraces The Pope
BY LINDA J. WILSON

Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, applaud as Pope Benedict XVI bids farewell to the United States at JFK International Airport before boarding his private aircraft, Shepherd One, to return to the Vatican after his six-day visit to the U.S. concluded last Sunday, April 20.

Although Pope Benedict XVI's only real connection to Queens during his three-day visit to New York City last week was his arrival at and departure from John F. Kennedy International Airport, borough residents by the thousands welcomed him. The visit was the Pontiff's first to the United States since his election to the Papacy three years ago, although he made some five trips to this country as Joseph, Cardinal Ratzinger.

The Pope's first stop in the U.S. was Washington, D.C., where he arrived on Wednesday, April 16. He celebrated his 81st birthday on the South Lawn of the White House, where some 13,500 people sang "Happy Birthday" to him. It was the second visit to the White House by a Pope; the first was 29 years ago by Pope John Paul II.

Benedict led a prayer service for hundreds of American bishops of the Catholic Church at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington and on the following day celebrated Mass before a crowd 45,000 strong at the Washington Nationals baseball park.

The Pope's first official act on his arrival in New York City on Friday, April 18 was to address the General Assembly of the United Nations. For only the third time in recent history, a Pope entered a Jewish house of worship, the Park East Synagogue, also on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The German-born Pontiff met with Rabbi Arthur Schneier, who survived Nazi death camps during World War II, when then Joseph Ratzinger was conscripted to serve as a soldier in the army of the Third Reich. The Pope then met with ecumenical leaders at St. Joseph's Church in Manhattan's Yorkville, a neighborhood on the Upper East Side that was once home to much of Manhattan's German immigrant community.

On Saturday, the third anniversary of his election to the Papacy, the Pontiff celebrated Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. Hundreds of thousands of people got an unexpected glimpse of the Pontiff after he took a spin up the avenue to the residence of the Vatican's permanent observer at the United Nations on East 72nd Street. He next ventured to St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers to bless disabled children and be the guest of honor at a rally for youth and seminarians.

Benedict struck a somber but healing note Sunday morning, when he visited Ground Zero. He knelt at a shrine in the 75-feet-deep pit, once the foundation of the World Trade Center and prayed for "eternal light and peace for all who died here" and spoke personally to 24 survivors of the terrorist attacks who had been invited to the ceremony.

The Pope celebrated the final Mass of his visit at Yankee Stadium before a standing-room-only audience of 56,000 people. Five hundred priests served communion to the crowd in the last non-sport event to be held in the stadium, which will be razed and replaced by a new facility. The Pope's private aircraft, Shepherd One, lifted off from JFK Airport at 8 p.m. Sunday night for the return flight to Vatican City in Rome. Vice President Dick Cheney and other dignitaries saw him off.