Tucson's Bishop to Greet Pontiff, Attend Meetings
By Stephanie Innes
Arizona Daily Star
April 13, 2008
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/234155
[with link to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops blog detailing Pope Benedict XVI's visit]
He doesn't get to ride in the popemobile, but Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas will personally welcome Pope Benedict XVI when he arrives Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
Kicanas, who is vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, will take part in many of the official events during Benedict's first papal visit to the United States.
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| Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas was elected vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 13 during the bishops' fall meeting. Photo by Nancy Wiechec |
Kicanas will be at Andrews Air Force Base along with President Bush to welcome the pope.
He will also be at the White House when the pontiff meets with Bush, and at a private prayer service and meeting with the 350 U.S. bishops at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
In addition, Kicanas will be a concelebrant at a Mass scheduled for Thursday in the new Nationals Park in Washington.
In New York, Kicanas will be present for the pope's address Friday to the United Nations and for his Sunday visit to Ground Zero. He'll also be a concelebrant at two Masses, one at St. Patrick's Cathedral and another at Yankee Stadium.
Two other representatives from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson will also be at the St. Patrick's Mass, vicars general the Rev. Al Schifano and the Rev. Raul Trevizo.
"I think there's a great, growing excitement about the visit," Kicanas said last week. "People are eager to have a better glimpse of the Holy Father.
"He's obviously a very bright man with a careful analysis of things. He's a teacher and it will be an opportunity for him to teach about the Catholic Church and why it teaches what it does."
Kicanas twice met Benedict in Rome before he became the pope, when he was known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
The Tucson bishop has met him twice more since Ratzinger became the pope in 2005 in Cologne, Germany, at the church's World Youth Day, and most recently last fall in Rome when the pope beatified two Discalced Carmelite priests who once worked in Tucson. Beatification is the last step before canonization to sainthood.
Among other issues facing the church, Kicanas said he is hoping the pope addresses sadness and pain for victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
He has also suggested that the pontiff reflect on the church's "strong and determined defense of human life from conception to natural death."
Kicanas said he also would like to hear the pope encourage youths to consider working in the church as priests or as members of religious orders, and he anticipates the pontiff talking about his new encyclical Spe Salvi, which means Saved by Hope.
"The world and our country in particular yearn and long for hope," Kicanas wrote in his Monday Memo to parishioners last week.
It won't be the first time Kicanas has been on hand for a papal visit to the U.S., though it's his first as a bishop.
In 1979, he was principal and rector of the former Quigley Preparatory Seminary South in Chicago when Pope John Paul II stopped there as part of a visit to the Windy City.
Though the pope had been at the seminary to give speeches and hold a special meeting with U.S. bishops, Kicanas said he spent some time with the students, too.
"I had asked if he could meet with the high school kids who had been waiting four hours and his aide said 'no.' I grabbed one of the cardinals and asked again, and the pope came out and stayed about 40 minutes.
"The kids gave him a soccer ball. The pope was very athletic and strong at that time," Kicanas said. "It was kind of exciting."
John Paul II died April 2, 2005. Ratzinger was elected pope by the College of Cardinals on April 19, 2005.
He took the name Benedict after two historic figures: St. Benedict of Nursia, whose model of monastic life is believed to have helped rebuild European culture after the collapse of the Roman Empire; and Pope Benedict XV, who is remembered for his commitment to bringing peace to post-World War I Europe.
"It will be a renewal of hope," Kicanas said, referring to Benedict's visit. "It's an important teaching moment and an uplifting experience for the church."
Contact reporter Stephanie Innes at 573-4134 or at sinnes@azstarnet.com.
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