In Umbris Sancti Petri

Well, not really 'back' either. But, Pope Benedict XVI's plans for an initial trip to the US have been confirmed, and here's the itinerary as made manifest by the Catholic News Agency (for those who haven't yet seen):

The Pope will arrive in Washington on Tuesday, April 15. Upon arrival he will meet with President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, and the next day he will visit the White House.

On April 16, Pope Benedict will also hold a prayer service and meeting with the 350 bishops of the United States at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Thursday morning, the Pope will celebrate Mass at the Nationals Park in Washington, the first non-baseball event in the park. Later that day, he will visit Catholic University of America to deliver an address both to the heads of more than 200 Catholic colleges and universities and to school superintendents from 195 Catholic dioceses.

After the address to educators, the Pope will meet with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, and representatives of other religions for a prayer service at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center near Catholic University.

Pope Benedict will leave for New York City on the morning of April 18. He will address the United Nations at 10:45 a.m. and at 6 p.m. he will hold a prayer service at St. Joseph’s Church in Manhattan.

The next day, the Pope will hold a 9:15 a.m. Mass for priests and deacons at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He will meet with Catholic youth, including 50 disabled children, at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers.

On the morning of April 20 the Pope will visit ground zero, the site of the destroyed World Trade Center buildings. Following the Ground Zero stop, he will celebrate a Mass with 60,000 people in Yankee Stadium at 2:30, and will leave New York for Rome at 8 pm.

Also of note, the USCCB has put up a website here, which you can check out for further details on the trip. Tickets to the events will be hard to get (and are probably already sold out for some occasions, if I had to make a guess), so get your groups together quickly and get in while you still can. Go figure that the pope would make a trip to the States once I come to Rome. Although, I can't be too sad since I do pretty much live next-door to him...