By Thomas J. Craughwell

Handful of popes have made their way to USA

Papal travel, especially visits to the United States, is a relatively recent phenomenon. On Oct. 4, 1965, Pope Paul VI became the first pontiff to come to the United States. It was a whirlwind, one-day tour of New York City where the pontiff prayed before the Blessed Sacrament in St. Patrick's Cathedral, addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations (another papal first), visited Michelangelo's "Pieta" on display at the Vatican Pavilion at the World's Fair in Queens, and said Mass before a capacity crowd in Yankee Stadium.

Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, had traveled to America in 1936 specifically to arrange for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the United States. President Franklin D. Roosevelt entertained the cardinal at his home in Hyde Park, N.Y., where he promised to establish formal ties with the Vatican. (In 1939, Roosevelt exercised an executive privilege and appointed a personal envoy to the Holy See -- such an appointment does not require the approval of the Senate.) Before he returned to Italy, Cardinal Pacelli called on Joseph and Rose Kennedy at their home in Bronxville, N.Y. He chatted in French with the older Kennedy children and let 4-year-old Teddy climb on his lap and play with his pectoral cross. According to Kennedy cousin Joseph Gargan, after Cardinal Pacelli was elected pope, Rose Kennedy kept the sofa where he had sat as a kind of relic -- no one was permitted to sit on it.

As a cardinal, Karol Wojtyla visited Polish-American parishes and communities in 1969 and again in 1976. The future Pope John Paul II's stops included the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Chicago and Stevens Point, Wis.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger came to New York City five times. A memorable, if unpleasant, event occurred during his 1988 visit. Lutheran pastor Rev. Richard John Neuhaus invited the cardinal to deliver a scholarly address titled "Biblical Interpretation in Crisis" at St. Peter's Church, a Lutheran parish in Midtown Manhattan. Homosexual activists disrupted the lecture, leaping to their feet and screaming "Antichrist!" "Nazi!" and "Stop the Inquisition!" Cardinal Ratzinger stood quiet and impassive at the podium as police cleared the hecklers out of the church. Incidentally, since Cardinal Ratzinger's 1988 visit, Neuhaus converted to the Catholic faith, was ordained a Catholic priest and today is editor-in-chief of the journal First Things.

Pope John Paul II made six visits to the United States, plus two layovers of several hours duration at the airport in Fairbanks, Alaska. During his 1979 visit, he became the first pope to call at the White House, where President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalyn Carter welcomed him.

His other trips included a visit to Puerto Rico in 1984, a lengthy itinerary in 1987 that visited nine cities, mostly in the South and the West, including Miami, New Orleans, San Antonio and Los Angeles; the 1993 World Youth Day in Denver; a 1995 visit to cities on the East Coast, including Baltimore, and a return to Greenpoint in Brooklyn; and a brief stay in St. Louis in 1999.