Cardinal Egan: Pope's Visit will Emphasize Hope

Pope Benedict's trip, the theme of which is "Christ Our Hope," will be his first visit to the United States as pope. He will be in Washington April 15-17 and in New York April 18-20.

NEW YORK (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI will emphasize the theme of hope -- and what that means to Catholics -- on his upcoming visit to New York and Washington, said Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York.

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"It's going to be interesting to see how he develops it," the cardinal told Catholic New York, the archdiocesan newspaper, during an hourlong interview at his residence.

Noting that Pope Benedict addressed that topic in his most recent encyclical, "Spe Salvi" (on Christian hope), the cardinal said he expects that on the U.S. trip the pope will continue to emphasize "that about which we're hopeful" and the role of hope in "strengthening our moral and spiritual life."

Pope Benedict's trip, the theme of which is "Christ Our Hope," will be his first visit to the United States as pope. He will be in Washington April 15-17 and in New York April 18-20.

Cardinal Egan said he hopes the papal visit to the New York Archdiocese will offer an opportunity to focus on "what the Catholic Church is all about -- the Gospel, prayer and our commitment to justice and charity."

He pointed out that the two main events to be held in the archdiocese will be Masses, one at St. Patrick's Cathedral April 19 and the other at Yankee Stadium April 20.

The Mass at St. Patrick's will be the first offered in the cathedral by a pope. Although Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral twice in his papacy, in 1979 and in 1995, he did not celebrate Mass there.

Cardinal Egan also said that in planning the trip the pope made a specific request to visit ground zero, site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, and St. Joseph's Seminary in the Dunwoodie section of Yonkers.

"We were very happy that these were the two places he mentioned specifically," the cardinal said.

He said that he expects to tell Pope Benedict about his own experiences on Sept. 11, when he and his secretary, Msgr. Gregory Mustaciuolo, saw the second tower of the trade center come down from their post outside St. Vincent's Hospital where they waiting for victims of the attack to be brought for medical attention.

The cardinal said he will speak especially of the "heroism" he saw on the part of firefighters, police officers and emergency service officers and their leadership in intensive rescue and recovery efforts that followed the attacks.

"I cannot tell you how delighted I am with the visit of the Holy Father," the cardinal said. "There could be no more perfect way to conclude our year of bicentennial celebrations."

The Archdiocese of New York has been celebrating its bicentennial with a yearlong series of events that began in April 2007.

"The visit will be an immense blessing for all of us," he continued. "We look forward to listening to the bishop of Rome, praying with him and celebrating with him as well.

"It is my prayer that when he returns home on April 20, we will all be a good deal closer to our Lord and Savior, whose vicar here on earth Pope Benedict XVI is," he said.

Expansive and relaxed, the cardinal went into great detail about the intensive planning and protocol involved in the visit, ranging from personal inspections of the sites where papal events will take place to figuring out who will sit where in the various venues.

The cardinal, who will participate in the papal events in New York and in Washington, said that he and his staff -- including Sister Janet Baxendale, a Sister of Charity who is a specialist in liturgy -- produced a document several inches thick that spells out every detail at every stage of the New York visit.

"It's everything from what vestments will be worn to how many people will serve the Masses," he said.

The pope's itinerary will include: in Washington, a meeting with President George W. Bush at the White House, Mass at Nationals Park, a meeting with interreligious leaders and addresses to U.S. bishops and the presidents of Catholic universities and colleges; and in New York, an address to the U.N. General Assembly, a meeting with Christian leaders and a youth and vocations event at St. Joseph's Seminary.

Traveling with the pope will be the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and the pontiff's personal staff, as well as U.S. cardinals serving in Rome: Cardinals J. Francis Stafford, head of the Vatican's Apostolic Penitentiary; John P. Foley, grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher; William J. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and William W. Baum, retired head of the Apostolic Penitentiary.

Besides Cardinal Egan, other U.S. cardinals joining the papal trip in its entirety are: Cardinals Sean P. O'Malley of Boston; Justin Rigali of Philadelphia; Francis E. George of Chicago; Adam J. Maida of Detroit; Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles; Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston; Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington; and Anthony J. Bevilacqua, retired archbishop of Philadelphia. Fordham University's Cardinal Avery Dulles will participate in the cathedral Mass.

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The cardinal noted that everywhere he goes of late he invites the faithful to pray for a grace-filled three days with the pontiff, as well as "three days of bright sunshine, and not a drop of rain."

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops