The Papal Visit

This Thursday Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in Scotland where he will conduct an official state visit to the UK from September 16th to 19th. He will start his trip with a visit with the Queen on Thursday morning at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh (the same palace where we had tea in the gardens). There will then be a large St. Ninian's Day parade down Princes Street through the heart of Edinburgh. St. Ninian was the first Scot to be named a saint. Apparently there will be a thousand school children dressed in blue to turn Princes Street into a sea of Scottish blue, with the help of 'thousands' of Saltires (flags with St. Andrew's cross). Should be quite the sight! There will also be bands of pipers which I love. During the parade the Pope will ride down the street in his popemobile for everyone to see him. After the parade the Pope will go to Glasgow to conduct an open-air mass in a park (which one of the guys in my programme will be attending!), and will then fly down to London. So he'll only be in Scotland for the day.

My one friend and I are determined to attend the parade and see the Pope. We still can't believe that we have the opportunity to see him not only outside of Rome/Vatican City, but in our own town. Don't worry, I will definitely have my camera on me. We've been trying to decide how many hours early we should be to get good spots on the side of the road. I'm very much looking forward to Thursday. What an experience!

The general British public's reaction to the visit seems to be not so positive. Some people are concerned about Britain paying for the Pope's visit with the current state of the British economy. The British government (and British taxpayers) pay because it is a state visit, with Pope Benedict XVI as the head of state in Vatican City meeting Britain's heads of state. There are also concerns about what Pope Benedict XVI represents, some of his personal views, and the legacy of and on-going investigations into sex scandals involving Roman Catholic clerics and British and Irish children. These have sparked serious debate as to whether the Pope will be welcome in Britain. Whatever my personal opinions may be as a Christian and not a Catholic, I've decided to stay focussed on this amazing opportunity to see His Holiness in his popemobile (a word I will never get tired of saying or writing, as it always makes me smile) in my beautiful city, and hopefully one of these days I'll be able to visit his.

To find out more about Pope Benedict XVI's visit, here's a couple useful links:

The official website of the Papal Visit includes live video coverage while he's in the UK and day-by-day itineraries (as well as the official souvenir shop, which was a bit surprising):

http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/

Additional information on the St. Ninian's Day Parade which my friend and I plan to attend (who knows? maybe you'll be able to see us on the live coverage, either on the news or the above website, in amongst the thousands who have flocked to Princes Street):

http://www.stniniansday.co.uk/

And for a quick run-down of the Papal Visit, visit BBC's 'At a Glance' coverage, which also has links to the recent news items on the controversial elements of the trip I mentioned above (a quick sidenote: I'd never heard the term 'Pope stalker' before):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10927162

I'll be sure to tell you all about the parade. Fingers crossed for a dry morning!