I can honestly say that I am looking forward to the Pope's visit

And I pray that he will be safe while he is here.

The pope is "very calm before this trip," Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state and Benedict's top aide, said on Vatican Radio when asked about the risk of a terrorist attack. The head of the Roman Catholic Church arrives in Washington on Tuesday for a five-day visit that will also take in New York.

"Do you remember his trip to Turkey? There were threats before and during (the trip)," said Bertone. "This time around there have been threats too, no doubt," he added but did not elaborate. "We have trust in the protection that the (US) government will put in place wherever the Holy Father will pass, as happened in Turkey," during his visit in late 2006, he said.

You have to wonder - especially when you see what the Religion of Peaceniks REALLY thinks about the Pope:









More on his schedule and the full text of his Ground Zero prayer can be found beneath the fold.
This time the pontiff is to attend a reception at the White House on Wednesday and scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly on Friday.

Other events on the schedule include a visit to Ground Zero, the site of the September 11 attacks in New York, a meeting with Jewish leaders in Washington and a short stop at a synagogue in New York.

But it is his two showpiece events at baseball stadiums in Washington on Thursday and in New York on April 20 that are causing the biggest security challenge.

Access to the pope's appearance at New York's Yankee Stadium, where he is to celebrate mass on April 20, is being strictly controlled with the help of bar-coded, non-transferable tickets and hours-long security procedures.

Federal agents were carrying out background checks on everyone attending the New York event, who were being asked to arrive at their parishes six hours before the service to allow enough time for security, according to reports.

The text of the Pope's Ground Zero prayer:

God of love, compassion, and healing, look on us, people of many different faiths
and traditions, who gather today at this site, the scene of incredible violence and pain.

We ask you in your goodness to give eternal light and peace to all who died here—
the heroic first-responders: our fire fighters, police officers, emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel, along with all the innocent men and women who were victims of this tragedy simply because their work or service brought them here on September 11, 2001.

We ask you, in your compassion to bring healing to those who, because of their presence here that day, suffer from injuries and illness.

Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy. Give them strength to continue their lives with courage and hope.

We are mindful as well of those who suffered death, injury, and loss on the same day at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Our hearts are one with theirs as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering.

God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world: peace in the hearts of all men and women and peace among the nations of the earth.

Turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred.
God of understanding, overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy, we seek your light and guidance as we confront such terrible events.

Grant that those whose lives were spared may live so that the lives lost here may not have been lost in vain.

Comfort and console us, strengthen us in hope, and give us the wisdom and courage to work tirelessly for a world where true peace and love reign among nations and in the hearts of all.