Pope Benedict XVI will pay Washington a three-day visit in April and plans to hold a Mass in the new Nationals baseball stadium, a Vatican spokesperson announced Monday.
The visit, following a planned speech at the United Nations in New York, includes a trip to the White House and Catholic University, according to The Washington Post. It will be the first time a pope has visited the District since 1979 and Benedict's first trip to the United States as the pope.
It will also be the first papal visit since the 2002 Boston clergy sex-abuse scandal. Benedict has already fueled controversy by choosing to skip Boston during his stay in the United States, a decision which William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the Post is due to the pope's age and energy.
Vatican officials, however, expressed hope that the pope's visit will reignite trust and interest in the Catholic Church among Americans.
"We should issue an invitation to return for those who have left the Church," Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the pope's U.S. representative, said at a news conference in Boston Monday.
-PATRICIO CHILE
