Pope 'Very Much' Looks Forward To UK Trip Next Week

At today's general audience in the Vatican City, Pope Benedict commented on his Sept. 16-19 visit to the United Kingdom, emphasizing his anticipation of the event and expressing his gratitude for the effort that has gone into the preparations.

"I am very much looking forward to my visit to the United Kingdom in a week's time and I send heartfelt greetings to all the people of Great Britain," the Pope read in English on Wednesday.

"I am aware that a vast amount of work has gone into the preparations for the visit, not only by the Catholic community but by the Government, the local authorities in Scotland, London and Birmingham, the communications media and the security services, and I want to say how much I appreciate the efforts that have been made to ensure that the various events planned will be truly joyful celebrations."

"Above all I thank the countless people who have been praying for the success of the visit and for a great outpouring of God's grace upon the Church and the people of your nation," he noted.

Commenting on the beatification ceremony of the Venerable John Henry Newman in Birmingham on Sept. 19, the Holy Father said, "It will be a particular joy for me."

"This truly great Englishman lived an exemplary priestly life and through his extensive writings made a lasting contribution to Church and society both in his native land and in many other parts of the world," the Pontiff added. "It is my hope and prayer that more and more people will benefit from his gentle wisdom and be inspired by his example of integrity and holiness of life."

"I look forward to meeting representatives of the many different religious and cultural traditions that make up the British population, as well as civil and political leaders. I am most grateful to Her Majesty the Queen and to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury for receiving me, and I look forward to meeting them."

In his concluding remarks, Pope Benedict touched on the limited nature of his visit, saying, "While I regret that there are many places and people I shall not have the opportunity to visit, I want you to know that you are all remembered in my prayers. God bless the people of the United Kingdom!"

Commemorative stamps celebrate Pope's UK visit and Newman beatification

The post office of the Isle of Man, a small independently-governed island near the U.K., issued a set of the commemorative stamps this month honoring Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman, along with the Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope will officially beatify the English cardinal at the end of his visit to England and Scotland from September 16 to 19.

The stamps were part of a miniature sheet issued on August 11, the 120th anniversary of Cardinal Newman's death. Since then, the Isle of Man's department for stamps and coins has been working with the Vatican Post Office to produce additional commemorative materials for the September 19 beatification.

Since Newman's beatification was originally scheduled to take place at Coventry Airport, the stamps give the original location for the announced ceremony rather than the new site at Cofton Park in Birmingham. Stamp collectors, however, often increase the level of an artifacts' value to apparent discrepancies of this kind.

Newman is depicted in two photographs, one taken in his residence at the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in 1883, when the cardinal was 82. The other was taken around 1866, just over two decades after his conversion from Anglicanism and reception into the Catholic Church. The photograph of Pope Benedict XVI was taken during a General Audience in St. Peter's Square on June 10, 2009.

Among the materials to be produced jointly by the Isle of Man Post Office and the Vatican, will be a special welcome message to the Pope from Cardinal Keith O'Brien of Scotland and Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster.

Announcing the stamps in a press conference earlier this summer, Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham said that they “highlight the importance” of the “first time a Pope has been welcomed to the United Kingdom on a State Visit.” A prior visit by Pope John Paul II in 1982, which was the first ever visit by a Pope to the U.K., was a pastoral visit and not undertaken in his capacity as the head of the Vatican City State.

Describing Cardinal Newman as an “example of holiness “ as well as a “figure of the international significance,” Archbishop Longley hoped the stamps would “introduce Cardinal Newman and his witness to goodness and truth, to many people throughout the world who may not yet know him."