Pope John Paul II visited New York City twice during his papacy: in October 1979 and in 1995.

He first set foot in the city as pope on October 2, 1979, only a year after becoming pope, arriving at La Guardia Airport from Boston.

He headed first to the United Nations, where he met with the secretary-general, Kurt Waldheim, and addressed the General Assembly. The pope then had lunch with the pope’s representative to the United Nations, Archbishop Giovanni Cheli, at the legate’s Manhattan apartment. It was then off to the seat of Catholicism in New York, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where John Paul II met with Cardinal Terrence Cooke before celebrating Mass. More than 3,000 priests, brothers, and nuns were in attendance.

After Mass, the pope traveled to St. Charles Borromeo Church on West 141st Street in Harlem, which was celebrating its 90th anniversary. Then it was off to the South Bronx, where the pope was greeted by the Reverend Neal Connolly, vicar of the South Bronx, and visited a church-sponsored housing project. While in the area, then very much the symbol of urban decay, the pope urged the poor not to despair.

He ended the day at Yankee Stadium where he addressed 80,000 mostly middle-class New Yorkers, urging them to treat the poor as their “brothers and sisters.”

The next day started with a rousing celebration at Madison Square Garden, where 19,000 teenagers joined the pope as he was entertained by music and song.

From there, the pope headed downtown in style. He was treated to a tickertape parade down Broadway to lower Manhattan, where he took part in a ceremony saluting New York’s Jewish community.

A planned stop at the Daytop Village rehabilitation center had to be scratched when, in the only glitch during the visit, a rifle was reportedly seen from a high window at Battery Park City. It was later determined the report had been a hoax.

Pope John Paul II concluded his visit to New York City with a Mass at Shea Stadium, telling the capacity crowd of more than 52,000, “A city needs a soul if it is to become a true home for human beings.”

It was almost exactly 16 years later that the pope returned to New York City. That visit was longer, but the events were a little more spaced out to give more rest time for the pope.

He arrived at the residence of Cardinal John O’Connor in Midtown the evening of October 4 after having spent the day in Newark, where he had arrived from Rome that morning.

The next morning, the pope returned to the United Nations, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary at New York City. He again addressed the General Assembly, telling the delegates, “Freedom is not simply the absence of tyranny or oppression. … Freedom is ordered to the truth and is fulfilled in man’s quest for truth and in man’s living in the truth.”

He then crossed the Hudson, celebrating Mass at Giants Stadium, before returning to Manhattan.

On October 6, the pope again visited Queens, though instead of Shea Stadium he went to Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park. There, before a crowd of about 100,000, he gave a homily highlighting the virtue of the family. That afternoon he went north to St. Joseph’s Seminary at Yonkers, where he spoke with seminarians.

He closed his second visit to New York City the following day, celebrating Mass on the Great Lawn in Central Park.

“This is New York!” the pope declared. “The great New York! This is Central Park. The beautiful surroundings of Central Park invite us to reflect on a more sublime beauty: the beauty of every human being, made in the image and likeness of God. Then you can tell the whole world that you gave the pope his Christmas present in October, in New York, in Central Park. Do not be afraid! The power of the Holy Spirit is with you!”