pope visit uk 1982

John Paul’s 1982 visit to Britain an "extraordinary event"

By Vatican News

“Saint John Paul II’s visit [to Britain in 1982] was an extraordinary event in the life of the Catholic Church in the UK,” writes Sally Axworthy, the British Ambassador to the Holy See.

Axworthy notes that it was the first time a reigning pontiff had ever set foot on British soil, and that the visit “marked a historic moment in UK-Holy See relations”.

The Holy Father visited nine cities in England, Wales and Scotland over the course of six days. In addition to his meeting with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace, highlights of the visit included addresses to young people in Cardiff and Edinburgh, and an open-air Mass in Glasgow that drew more than 300,000 participants.

“Ecumenism was central to his visit,” Axworthy says, noting John Paul’s visit to Canterbury Cathedral, where he met with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie.

“By attending the cathedral founded by St Augustine of Canterbury on his mission to England from Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century, St John Paul II made a powerful statement of the churches' determination to walk forward together,” she writes. “This ecumenical dialogue has flourished ever since.”

John Paul’s 1982 visit to Britain paved the way for future “great moments” in the life of the Church in the UK, including Pope Benedict XVI’s visit in 2010 and the canonisation of St John Henry Newman in 2019. The “legacy” of that visit, says Axworthy, “was the strengthening and deepening of the relationship between the UK and the Holy See that is bearing fruit today”.

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The Enduring Legacy of John Paul II’s 1982 Visit to Britain

“For the first time in history,” said Pope St. John Paul II after he stepped off the airplane, “a Bishop of Rome sets foot on English soil.”

Joanna Bogle, February 16, 2022 – National Catholic Register

In 2022, the Church in Britain marks an important milestone in its long history: This May, it will be 40 years since the first visit of a pope to Britain.

And it almost didn’t happen.

There had been months of preparation, much debate and discussion in the media, elaborate rehearsals by choirs and cathedrals and Catholic organizations, the hiring of massive venues, including London’s famous Wembley Stadium — and then the Falklands war broke out, and the whole idea of a papal visit was called into question.

Most people in Britain knew little or nothing about the Falkland Islands, a small British colony in the South Atlantic. In April 1982, Argentinian forces invaded the Falklands, swept the small British garrison aside, and announced that the islands were now in Argentinian control.  Britain responded by sending a Royal Navy task force, and effectively the British were at war.

As part of the anniversary, I have been dipping into archives and discovering the inside story of the emergency meetings and messages that went back and forth between Britain and Rome as the crisis deepened and the papal visit was at risk of being abandoned. There must have been a great deal of prayer. Pope John Paul II, of course, led the prayers for peace, and British and Argentinian bishops were summoned to Rome, where he celebrated a Mass with them all. And then came the climax of the last-minute rescue operation to save the situation: He flew to Argentina for a swiftly arranged papal visit, before going on to Britain.

It was clear throughout that the Pope was not only neutral but that he was vigorously promoting peace: This was his consistent message, and it never wavered. On this basis, he was able to fly to London’s Gatwick Airport, where, as planned in detail over the previous months, a large crowd, drawn from Catholic parishes across Surrey and Sussex, had gathered to greet him. I was among that crowd. I remember the early-morning start and the excitement as we all arrived in a chartered bus, and then the wait at the airport, where the Duke of Norfolk — by long-established tradition Britain’s senior Catholic layman — greeted the Pope at the airport steps.

This was not, it was emphasized, an official visit. This was a pastoral visit of the Pope to Britain’s Catholics. So no formal representative of the queen was at the airport, and there were no government officials. There was music, and we sang a welcoming hymn. Then there were speeches — and the history was made. The Pope summed it up when he proclaimed, “For the first time in history, a Bishop of Rome sets foot on English soil.”

In its own way, the tragedy of the Falklands War — more than 800 men, British and Argentinian, would eventually lose their lives in the fighting — helped to create a situation where old antagonisms dating back to the Reformation in Britain seemed to dwindle away. The papal visit became a true opportunity for a message of peace and goodwill, with anti-Catholicism of the old sort somehow at variance with a general recognition of the needs of the modern era. The whole visit had, in any case, been planned with ecumenical goodwill in mind, and there were some powerful moments, notably at Canterbury Cathedral, where the Pope prayed with Anglicans at the site of the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket.

And, yes, he did meet the queen — a courtesy visit, with tea at Buckingham Palace — with evident goodwill on both sides. Queen Elizabeth was wearing, I remember, a blue dress, and they were smiling and chatting as they emerged from the palace after tea. Postcards of the scene quickly became popular — I’ve still got mine.

The papal pilgrimage had the seven sacraments as its theme. At a packed Mass at Westminster Cathedral, the Pope baptized seven candidates of various ages, and then, after crossing the Thames at Lambeth Bridge, he arrived at St. George’s Cathedral, Southwark, which had been cleared of pews and filled with stretchers and wheelchairs bearing sick and disabled people from across Britain, and he administered the sacrament of the sick. And so it went on, across England and Wales and Scotland, with a penitential service, first Holy Communions, confirmations, ordinations and renewal of marriage vows. Vast crowds came, powerful moments of prayer experienced.

It was an unforgettable time. Looking back through the archives, something of the joy and excitement is still evident. So, too, are the changes since those days — the letters are typewritten (remember typewriters?) and there is just one reference to “a computer being installed” as a great innovation at one venue to store relevant information. Color photography relied entirely on film, paper and chemicals (some of the pictures have that curious greenish tinge that I remember well).  Fashions have, of course, changed: Ladies wore dresses, and there were even quite a lot of hats.

What did the papal visit achieve? A great deal. With its massive television coverage, it opened up an authentic vision of Catholic worship: from how Catholics pray to the centrality of the Eucharist. People saw what a baptism is and what is meant by the anointing of the sick. They saw the Pope as a bishop, a man in a white robe preaching about peace and the importance of family life and family prayer. Old notions of the Pope as a sinister foreign figure intent on imposing some sort of political rule were recognized as propaganda from a vanished era.

And that 1982 visit was followed, in the next century, by an official state visit by Pope Benedict XVI, where among much else, he addressed Parliament with a magnificent setting out of the respective roles of Church and state centered on a ringing call for true religious freedom. He led young people in a massive unforgettable night vigil of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in London’s Hyde Park, and he beatified John Henry Newman in a glorious Mass at Cofton Park on the outskirts of Birmingham.

The year 2022 sees another major milestone in Britain’s story: the platinum jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. She has always been clear in her commitment to the Christian faith and spoken of it as central to her life and service.

So much has changed in the 70 years of her reign. While there has been progress in fields that include health and general prosperity, there is also much that is cause for great sadness: Britain is a country with too much violent crime, many unhappy young people, a drug crisis, a worrying suicide rate, and a collapse in a general understanding of many basic moral values, including the value of human life itself.

But the Christian message is still on offer and is the message that holds the hope of renewal; and in a country with a long history, and a tradition of marking anniversaries and jubilees, 2022 brings scope for missionary activity on a new scale. We must pray the opportunity is taken up. A reminder of that historic papal visit four decades ago is part of that.

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The Enduring Legacy of John Paul II’s 1982 Visit to Britain

“For the first time in history,” said Pope St. John Paul II after he stepped off the airplane, “a Bishop of Rome sets foot on English soil.”

In 2022, the Church in Britain marks an important milestone in its long history: This May, it will be 40 years since the first visit of a pope to Britain.

And it almost didn’t happen.

There had been months of preparation, much debate and discussion in the media, elaborate rehearsals by choirs and cathedrals and Catholic organizations, the hiring of massive venues, including London’s famous Wembley Stadium — and then the Falklands war broke out, and the whole idea of a papal visit was called into question.

Most people in Britain knew little or nothing about the Falkland Islands, a small British colony in the South Atlantic. In April 1982, Argentinian forces invaded the Falklands, swept the small British garrison aside, and announced that the islands were now in Argentinian control.  Britain responded by sending a Royal Navy task force, and effectively the British were at war.

As part of the anniversary, I have been dipping into archives and discovering the inside story of the emergency meetings and messages that went back and forth between Britain and Rome as the crisis deepened and the papal visit was at risk of being abandoned. There must have been a great deal of prayer. Pope John Paul II, of course, led the prayers for peace, and British and Argentinian bishops were summoned to Rome, where he celebrated a Mass with them all. And then came the climax of the last-minute rescue operation to save the situation: He flew to Argentina for a swiftly arranged papal visit, before going on to Britain.

It was clear throughout that the Pope was not only neutral but that he was vigorously promoting peace: This was his consistent message, and it never wavered. On this basis, he was able to fly to London’s Gatwick Airport, where, as planned in detail over the previous months, a large crowd, drawn from Catholic parishes across Surrey and Sussex, had gathered to greet him. I was among that crowd. I remember the early-morning start and the excitement as we all arrived in a chartered bus, and then the wait at the airport, where the Duke of Norfolk — by long-established tradition Britain’s senior Catholic layman — greeted the Pope at the airport steps.

This was not, it was emphasized, an official visit. This was a pastoral visit of the Pope to Britain’s Catholics. So no formal representative of the queen was at the airport, and there were no government officials. There was music, and we sang a welcoming hymn. Then there were speeches — and the history was made. The Pope summed it up when he proclaimed , “For the first time in history, a Bishop of Rome sets foot on English soil.”

In its own way, the tragedy of the Falklands War — more than 800 men, British and Argentinian, would eventually lose their lives in the fighting — helped to create a situation where old antagonisms dating back to the Reformation in Britain seemed to dwindle away. The papal visit became a true opportunity for a message of peace and goodwill, with anti-Catholicism of the old sort somehow at variance with a general recognition of the needs of the modern era. The whole visit had, in any case, been planned with ecumenical goodwill in mind, and there were some powerful moments, notably at Canterbury Cathedral , where the Pope prayed with Anglicans at the site of the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket.

And, yes, he did meet the queen — a courtesy visit, with tea at Buckingham Palace — with evident goodwill on both sides. Queen Elizabeth was wearing, I remember, a blue dress, and they were smiling and chatting as they emerged from the palace after tea. Postcards of the scene quickly became popular — I’ve still got mine.

The papal pilgrimage had the seven sacraments as its theme. At a packed Mass at Westminster Cathedral , the Pope baptized seven candidates of various ages, and then, after crossing the Thames at Lambeth Bridge, he arrived at St. George’s Cathedral, Southwark, which had been cleared of pews and filled with stretchers and wheelchairs bearing sick and disabled people from across Britain, and he administered the sacrament of the sick. And so it went on, across England and Wales and Scotland, with a penitential service, first Holy Communions, confirmations, ordinations and renewal of marriage vows. Vast crowds came, powerful moments of prayer experienced.

It was an unforgettable time. Looking back through the archives, something of the joy and excitement is still evident. So, too, are the changes since those days — the letters are typewritten (remember typewriters?) and there is just one reference to “a computer being installed” as a great innovation at one venue to store relevant information. Color photography relied entirely on film, paper and chemicals (some of the pictures have that curious greenish tinge that I remember well).  Fashions have, of course, changed: Ladies wore dresses, and there were even quite a lot of hats.

What did the papal visit achieve? A great deal. With its massive television coverage, it opened up an authentic vision of Catholic worship: from how Catholics pray to the centrality of the Eucharist. People saw what a baptism is and what is meant by the anointing of the sick. They saw the Pope as a bishop, a man in a white robe preaching about peace and the importance of family life and family prayer. Old notions of the Pope as a sinister foreign figure intent on imposing some sort of political rule were recognized as propaganda from a vanished era.

And that 1982 visit was followed, in the next century, by an official state visit by Pope Benedict XVI, where among much else, he addressed Parliament with a magnificent setting out of the respective roles of Church and state centered on a ringing call for true religious freedom. He led young people in a massive unforgettable night vigil of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in London’s Hyde Park, and he beatified John Henry Newman in a glorious Mass at Cofton Park on the outskirts of Birmingham.

The year 2022 sees another major milestone in Britain’s story: the platinum jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. She has always been clear in her commitment to the Christian faith and spoken of it as central to her life and service.

So much has changed in the 70 years of her reign. While there has been progress in fields that include health and general prosperity, there is also much that is cause for great sadness: Britain is a country with too much violent crime, many unhappy young people, a drug crisis, a worrying suicide rate, and a collapse in a general understanding of many basic moral values, including the value of human life itself.

But the Christian message is still on offer and is the message that holds the hope of renewal; and in a country with a long history, and a tradition of marking anniversaries and jubilees, 2022 brings scope for missionary activity on a new scale. We must pray the opportunity is taken up. A reminder of that historic papal visit four decades ago is part of that. 

• John Paul ii
• united kingdom
• great britain
• papal travels
• queen elizabeth ii

Joanna Bogle Joanna Bogle is the author of some 20 books, including several historical biographies and A Book of Seasons and Celebrations with information on traditions and customs marking the Church year. Her most recent book is John Paul II: Man of Prayer with colleague Clare Anderson, exploring the spiritual life of St. John Paul the Great. She broadcasts regularly with EWTN and initiated popular "Catholic History Walks" around London.

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Were you in Edinburgh when the Pope visited in 1982?

Ahead of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Edinburgh on Thursday, we're looking to gather a collection of pictures from the previous tour in 1982.

John Paul II landed in the UK on 28 May in what was the first Papal visit to the UK in over 400 years.

He was greeted by thousands of school children at Murrayfield stadium on what photographs and videos tell us was a sunny day in the city.

Where were you when the Pope was last in town? We want to hear from anybody who remembers the last visit to Edinburgh. Whether you have pictures or memories to share, please get in touch . The Murrayfield visit was followed by his attendance at a gathering for priests and religious leaders, before trips to Saint Joseph's Hospital in Rosewell and the Bishops' Conference in Edinburgh.

And just as with this year's plans, his Scottish tour ended with an open air Mass at Bellahouston Park .

Personally, his last visit came two years before I was born, so perhaps you can bring to life what those of us who are younger than 28 have read online and in the papers recently.

Did Edinburgh come to a standstill? Feel free to add your comments below or email me at [email protected] .

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

Canterbury Historical and Archaeological Society

Papal Visit (John Paul II)

On 29 May 1982 Pope John Paul II became the first reigning Pope ever to visit UK. The Canterbury city streets were lined with 25,000 well-wishers when he arrived by helicopter and travelled to the cathedral.  After a meeting with Dr Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Prince of Wales, held at the deanery, the Pope attended a ceremony with Dr Runcie and Rev Dr Kenneth Greet (Methodist minister), renewing their baptismal vows together. The church leaders then greeted all the cardinals and bishops with a “kiss of peace” before lighting candles for Christian martyrs of different faiths.  Later, the Pope and Archbishop Runcie knelt in silent prayer at the spot where Thomas Becket  was murdered in 1170 (Image 1 – copyright uncertain).

What to see:

• the wall tablet in the Martyrdom  commemorating the Pope’s visit  (Image 2)
• the Papal insignia placed later in the cloisters – the letter M signifies the Virgin Mary (Image 3)

Sources:  see  standard  cathedral sources

1982 visit by Pope John Paul II to the United Kingdom

The visit of Pope John Paul II to the United Kingdom in 1982 was the first visit there by a reigning Pope . The Pope arrived in the UK on Friday 28 May, and during his time there visited nine cities, delivering 16 major addresses. Among significant events were a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II , the Supreme Governor of the Church of England , a joint service alongside the then- Archbishop of Canterbury , Robert Runcie at Canterbury Cathedral , meeting with and addressing the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at The Mound , and five large open air Masses in London , Coventry , Manchester , Glasgow , and Cardiff . Following his six-day visit which took him to locations in England , Scotland and Wales , he returned to the Vatican on 2 June.

Public opinion

Unlike the 2010 papal visit of his successor, Pope Benedict XVI , John Paul II's was a pastoral rather than a state visit , and was consequently funded by the Catholic Church in the UK rather than the Government. The trip was almost cancelled because Britain was then at war with Argentina , which had invaded the British possession of the Falkland Islands . This visit had to be balanced for fairness with an unscheduled trip to Argentina that June. Over 2 million people attended events hosted by the Pope, with the visit said to be the biggest event for British Catholics since their emancipation.

The visit, the first to the United Kingdom made by a reigning pope, [1] was organised, and largely funded, by the Roman Catholic Church at an estimated cost of around £7   million (the equivalent of about £20M in 2010). In contrast to the 2010 visit by Pope Benedict XVI, it was a pastoral rather than a state visit. The Church offered the public free access to all papal events. [1] There were concerns about the Pope's health following an attempt on his life the previous year, [2] and security was of utmost importance during the visit. [3]

The itinerary for the visit was drafted 42 times before the Vatican finally approved it. [2] However, John Paul's trip was nearly cancelled after Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands , and the subsequent war between Britain and Argentina, just weeks before it was scheduled to take place. [1] The visit only went ahead after intervention from Archbishop of Glasgow, Thomas Winning and Archbishop of Liverpool , Derek Worlock , [4] and an agreement that the pontiff would not meet Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher . [1]

John Paul II arrived in the United Kingdom on the morning of 28 May 1982, landing at Gatwick Airport . After kissing the runway, he was greeted there by 3,500 singing children, Basil Cardinal Hume , Archbishop of Westminster and Cormac Murphy-O'Connor , Bishop of Arundel and Brighton (the Roman Catholic diocese in which the airport is located). Also present was Anglican Bishop Eric Kemp of Chichester (the Anglican diocese in which the airport is located), already showing the visit's noteworthy reconciliatory character towards the Church of England . [5] The Pope later travelled from Gatwick Airport railway station to London Victoria by special train 975025 Caroline [6] and from there went to Westminster Cathedral, where he celebrated his first Mass of the visit. During his first day in Britain he departed from his prepared text on three occasions, calling for peace in the Falklands and in Northern Ireland . [7] Also on that day he met Queen Elizabeth II , the Supreme Governor of the Church of England . [5]

On 29 May John Paul II visited Canterbury Cathedral , becoming the first pontiff to do so and participating in an historic meeting with the Prince of Wales (now King Charles III ), before attending a ceremony with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. During the service, the two church leaders renewed their baptismal vows together, knelt in silent prayer at the spot where Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170, and issued a common declaration, thanking God for "the progress that has been made in the work of reconciliation" between the Catholic Church and the Church of England. Later that day, he went through Wembley by means of a procession, then celebrated Mass at Wembley Stadium in the presence of 80,000 people. The crowd gave him a standing ovation, and sang " He's Got the Whole World in His Hands ". [2]

On 30 May, after a meeting with over 20,000 of his fellow Polish countrymen at the Crystal Palace stadium in London, the Pope travelled by helicopter to Coventry , where he celebrated Mass at the city's Baginton Airport in the presence of some 300,000 people. In his address, he described Coventry as a "city devastated by war but rebuilt in hope". [8] Afterwards, he travelled to Liverpool , where over a million spectators lined the route of his journey from the airport in Speke to the city. He attended services at the city's Metropolitan Cathedral and the Anglican Cathedral. Two thousand people attended his Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral. [4] After Mass, the Pope greeted young people gathered outside the cathedral.

On 31 May, the Pope visited Manchester , where he met the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Sir Immanuel Jakobovits at the Convent of the Poor Sisters of Nazareth . At Heaton Park he celebrated Mass in front of a crowd of more than 200,000 people, during which he ordained twelve men to the priesthood, telling them; "You must be men of God, his close friends. You must develop daily patterns of prayer, and penance must be a regular part of your life." [9] The Pope then travelled by helicopter to Knavesmire Racecourse in York where some 200,000 people gathered for a Liturgy of the Word .

After the York ceremony, the Pope was taken to RAF Leeming from where he flew by jet to Edinburgh in Scotland, landing at RAF Turnhouse , Edinburgh. At Murrayfield Stadium , he met with 45,000 young people and leaders of Protestant churches, before finishing the day with a visit to the city's Catholic cathedral.

On 1 June, John Paul II firstly visited patients at St Joseph's Hospital in Rosewell and addressed educators at St Andrew's College , before celebrating Mass at Bellahouston Park for 300,000 people. The Pope was presented with several symbolic gifts during the service, including a pipe banner with the Pope's coat of arms, a piece of Caithness glass, a firkin of whisky and a Scotland football shirt. He told worshippers "as believers, we are constantly exposed to pressures by modern society which would compel us to conform to the standards of this secular age, substitute new proprieties, restrict our aspirations at risk of compromising our Christian conscience." [7]

The Welsh leg of the trip took place on 2 June with the Pope's arrival in Cardiff . After he was awarded the Freedom of Cardiff , a city which received its royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1581, several years after she had been declared deposed by Pope Pius V in his bull Regnans in Excelsis (departing from his decision to avoid political meetings during his visit), John Paul II travelled to Pontcana Fields where he celebrated Mass for over 100,000 people, speaking briefly in Welsh to declare "Bendith Duw arnoch" – "the blessing of God be on you" – which was received with enthusiastic applause. [10] Afterwards, he went on to Ninian Park , home of Cardiff City F.C. , where he met with approximately 33,000 young people, again calling for peace in the South Atlantic and then calling on the young people of Britain to launch a crusade of prayer. In a direct reference to King Henry VIII 's book Defence of the Seven Sacraments for which he received the title Fidei defensor (Defender of the Faith) from Pope Leo X , one of the Sacraments was highlighted at each papal venue.

The speeches for John Paul's visit were written following consultation with British clerics, including the current archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols . These were largely well received by the public, with some two million people attending venues to see the Pope and hear him speak. According to the BBC's Michael Hirst, John Paul II's visit to the United Kingdom was the biggest event for British Catholics since their emancipation during the 19th century. [1] In contrast to the generally positive reaction, there were a small number of demonstrations, mostly by supporters of the Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party leader, the Rev. Ian Paisley , and other small groups. [5]

• Pastoral trips of Pope John Paul II
• Roman Catholicism in the United Kingdom
• Anglican Schism

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Holy See–United Kingdom relations are foreign relations between the Holy See and the United Kingdom.

Pope Benedict XVI, who led the Roman Catholic Church as Pope from 2005 to 2013, continued manouevring the Church through the dynamics of modernity, which the Church had begun engaging in with the Second Vatican Council. Because the question of religious pluralism is a key issue raised by modernity, ecumenism, the establishment of harmony and dialogue between the different Christian denominations, is a significant concern of a post Second Vatican Council Church. Pope Benedict XVI's approach has been characterised as leaning toward the conservative while still being expansive and engaged, involving the full breadth of Christendom, including the Orthodox Churches and Protestant churches, as well as freshly engaging with other Christian bodies considered by Roman Catholics to be more heterodox, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

John Henry Newman was a Roman Catholic theologian, philosopher and cardinal who converted to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism in October 1845. In early life, he was a major figure in the Oxford Movement to bring the Church of England back to its roots. Eventually his studies in history persuaded him to become a Roman Catholic priest, and he has now become a Saint, having been canonised on 13 October 2019. In 1991, Newman was proclaimed "Venerable" by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints – the first stage in the canonisation process. He was beatified on 19 September 2010 at an open air Mass in Birmingham.

The state visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom was held from 16 to 19 September 2010 and was the first visit by a Pope to Britain after Pope John Paul II made a pastoral, rather than state, visit in 1982. The visit included the beatification of Cardinal Newman as a "pastoral highlight".

Pope John Paul II visited Ireland from Saturday, 29 September to Monday, 1 October 1979, the first trip to Ireland by a pope. Over 2.5 million people attended events in Dublin, Drogheda, Clonmacnoise, Galway, Knock, Limerick, and Maynooth. It was John Paul's third foreign visit as Pope, who had been elected in October 1978. The visit marked the centenary of the reputed apparitions at the Shrine of Knock in August 1879. The pope’s visit to Ireland also took place, exactly over a month since Louis Mountbatten was killed in a boat bomb explosion over the coast of Sligo, planted by the Provisional IRA.

Pope Francis visited Ireland on 25 and 26 August 2018, as part of the World Meeting of Families 2018. It was the first visit by a reigning pontiff to the country since 1979.

• 1 2 3 "1982: Pope makes historic visit to Canterbury" . BBC On This Day . BBC. 29 May 1982 . Retrieved 18 September 2010 .
• ↑ "Pope John Paul II visit recalled by security chief" . BBC News . BBC. 14 September 2010 . Retrieved 18 September 2010 .
• 1 2 "Liverpool remembers Pope John Paul II" . BBC Radio Merseyside . BBC. 2 April 2005 . Retrieved 18 September 2010 .
• 1 2 3 "Different pope, different times for British trip" . The Himalayan Times . 12 September 2010. Archived from the original on 18 September 2010 . Retrieved 19 September 2010 .
• ↑ "The history of our "Hastings" DEMUs" . Hastings Diesels Limited. 12 December 2011 . Retrieved 21 June 2012 .
• 1 2 "The first visit: Looking back at Pope John Paul II's mass at Bellahouston Park" . Daily Record . 14 September 2010 . Retrieved 18 September 2010 .
• ↑ Dimmer, Sam (17 May 2010). "Coventry Catholic church leaders delighted at Pope visit to Coventry" . Coventry Telegraph . Retrieved 19 September 2010 .
• ↑ "John Paul II at Heaton Park" . Pope Benedict XVI visit to the United Kingdom . Catholic Communications Network . Retrieved 19 September 2010 .
• ↑ "Pope John Paul II's visit to Wales in 1982" . BBC Wales History . BBC. 15 September 2010 . Retrieved 19 September 2010 .
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The Papal Visit

Pope Benedict XVI in the UK

• Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium provided the setting for the first open-air Mass of Pope John Paul II's visit to Britain. The stadium, which has since been redeveloped, was the venue for England's 1966 World Cup football triumph.

Also in John Paul II

Pope Saint John Paul II’s reason for being there was to signpost people to a glory that goes beyond space and time. Where the old stadium once stood is a 133m arch which can be seen across the skyline of north west London. On 29 May 1982, the Holy Father celebrated the first Mass of Pentecost. It’s thought that around 80,000 people attended from across England and Wales.

• Pope John Paul II to the religious men and women of England and Wales

"English religious communities were scattered and destroyed, or fled to foreign lands. It is impossible here to name all the men and women religious of this period who followed our Lord to the point of giving their lives in defence of their faith."

• Holy Mass for the Renewal Of The Baptismal Promises

John Paul II to the Catholic community: "I have come to renew with you our shared love and enthusiasm for the Gospel of Jesus Christ; to confirm you in your faith and to share your joys and your hopes, your griefs and your anxieties."

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