Pope Benedict XVI to visit UK in papal first

Pope Benedict XVI will make the first ever official papal visit to Britain with a four-day trip in September, the government announced yesterday.

The September 16-19 visit by the 82-year-old pontiff, at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II, will see the first official meeting between the British monarch and a Pope.

The visit, which follows recent tensions between the Vatican and the Anglican Church, will also see the pontiff make an exception to his rule and conduct a beatification in person in the local archdiocese.

"We've never known anything like this before in our country's history," said Scotland minister Jim Murphy, announcing only the second of any kind by a Pope in more than four centuries.

Pope Benedict's predecessor John Paul II drew huge crowds when he came to Britain in 1982 - the first Pontiff to visit for 450 years - but it was a pastoral trip, rather than an official visit.

In Scotland, the Pope will be received by Queen Elizabeth at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the sovereign's official residence in Edinburgh. He will also hold a public Mass at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow.

In England, he will give a major speech to civil society leaders at the Houses of Parliament in London, and beatify 19th century theologian John Henry Newman in a public Mass at Coventry Airport in central England.

He will also visit the Archbishop of Canterbury - the head of the Anglican church - at his Lambeth Palace residence and pray with other church leaders at Westminster Abbey.

"This is an historic visit at an important time," Mr Murphy said.