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April 18, 2008
How many world leaders come and go at the United Nations headquarters in New York with nary a word to say to the staff? Almost all, I would daresay. But not Pope Benedict XVI. Before rushing off to his next even after his major address April 18 to the UN General Assembly, he dallied a while to talk to the hired help.
Had time to kill this afternoon since only a tiny number of journalists were able to accompany Pope Benedict on his visits to Park East Synagogue and St. Joseph's Church. So I wandered around St. Patrick's Cathedral, the very heart of Catholic New York. Half a block away, I was accosted by two young men wearing tight T-shirts, jeans and sneakers.
The settiing was St. Joseph's Church in New York's Yorkville, a parish established for German immigrants in 1893. In this temple of worship were gathered some 250 Protestant and Orthodox church leaders, 50 Catholics and Pope Benedict XVI.
NEW YORK - In his first address to the United Nations, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a staunch defence of religious freedom in the face of secular pressure to privatize faith.
April 19, 2008
Surrounded by priests, bishops, cardinals, religious sisters and brothers, not to mention permanent deacons, it's no surprise that Pope Benedict's homily during a Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York would be a little "entre nous."
The Knights of Columbus were tickled pink that their founder made a cameo appearance in Pope Benedict's April 19 homily for the Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Fr. Michael McGivney was mentioned as an exemplar of a priestly accomplishment in U.S. history.
Saturday afternoon in New York in the springtime. The streets in downtown Manhattan are teeming with people of all ages, races and fashions. But Pope Benedict XVI isn't there. He's in Yonkers hugging and kissing disabled children and soaking in the joyful exuberance of youth.
April 20, 2008
The spring sunshine of the past week had given way to cool air and gray skies. Fog enshrouded the tops of Manhattan's skyline. At Ground Zero, some five storeys below street level where once stood the World Trade Towers, Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the dead and the living.
Pope Benedict's six-day visit to the United States has been marked by a plethora of anniversaries. Even his own: the Holy Father celebrated his 81st birthday on April 16, the day he met U.S. President George Bush in Washington, DC.
Among all the red hats and sashes trailing after the Pope at his various events here in the United States was one who is a familiar figure to Canadians. It was Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec and primate of the Catholic Church in Canada.
Pope Benedict XVI's final homily to Americans, given at the Sunday, April 20, Mass at Yankee Stadium, was about Jesus. Imagine that, a Catholic Pope, at a Catholic Mass, talking about Jesus.