Papal Visit Planned Down to Last Detail

More than 530 priests and deacons will be on hand to help Pope Benedict XVI celebrate Holy Communion before 57,000 worshippers when he visits Yankee Stadium this week.

His first trip to America, which begins in Washington tomorrow, has been planned down to the last detail by clergy, organizers of political rallies, and even Hollywood producers.

"A papal trip is always a precise series of appointments, carefully planned," the papal spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said. The pope will personally bless 20,000 of the 60,000 Communion wafers, which will be distributed to worshippers in 14 minutes. Younger priests will take care of the higher stands in the stadium, where the stairs are narrower. If it rains, 100,000 ponchos will be issued.

The Reverend Monsignor Wallace Harris, who is coordinating the event, told the New York Times: "I just want to make sure it's done reverently and safely." The pope has been banned by the Yankees from walking on the grass and he will tour the edge of the ground in the "Popemobile'" before celebrating Mass from second base.

The platform has been built by two companies that usually design sets for Broadway shows. Harry Connick Jr. and Kelly Clarkson will sing for the crowd before the pope arrives. The 150,000 tickets to attend were issued through a lottery and his public events will also be televised live and streamed over the Internet.

The Pope, who will celebrate his 81st birthday on the trip, is the third pope to visit America, after Paul VI in 1965 and John Paul II, who made the trip seven times.

The highlights of the visit include a meeting with President Bush at the White House on Wednesday, an address to the United Nations on Friday and prayers for the victims of the attacks of September 11 at Ground Zero on Sunday.

The pope is unlikely to deviate from the tight schedule or prepared script.