Pope Benedict’s ‘grueling’ visit to the U.S.
A look back at Pope Benedict’s ‘grueling’ 2008 visit to the U.S.
When Pope Benedict came to the United States for a visit to Washington and New York spanning six days in mid-April 2008, some news accounts called the pace of his schedule “grueling.”
Pope Benedict handled the pace with good grace while getting his message out to millions of Catholics both in the United States and throughout the world. He died at the Vatican Dec. 31.
The trip had been timed to help celebrate the bicentennials of four archdioceses in the United States: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Louisville, Kentucky. They were erected from the Baltimore Diocese, the nation’s first diocese, which was elevated to an archdiocese in the same year, 1808.