First official visit by Pope to Britain in September

The Pope is to visit Britain in September at the invitation of the Queen, Buckingham Palace confirmed yesterday.

It will be the first Papal visit to Britain since 1982, when Pope John Paul II's six-day tour drew huge crowds.

It will also be the first official Papal visit to Britain. The 1982 trip was a pastoral one.

Pope Benedict XVI will visit between September 16 and 19.

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He will be received by the Queen, who is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and the Duke of Edinburgh in Edinburgh on September 16.

He confirmed last month in Rome that he was to visit England and Scotland this year.

His remarks criticising aspects of Britain's equality legislation were met with outrage by campaigners.

During the visit the Pope will beatify the 19th century theologian and educationalist Cardinal John Henry Newman at a public mass in Coventry.

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He will meet the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace and pray with other church leaders at Westminster Abbey.

The Most Rev Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, said Catholics were delighted.

The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales added: "We are confident that the presence and message of Pope Benedict will encourage everyone to aspire again to a vision of life in our society marked by mutual trust, compassion and truth.

ITINERARY FOR HISTORIC EVENT

Pope Benedict XVI will make his visit between September 16 and 19. He will be received by the Queen at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh on the first day. He will also celebrate a public Mass in Glasgow and Coventry and give a major speech to British civil society at Westminster Hall in London.