Papal Visit to these Isles...

I am always the last to find out anything, but it seems that the Holy Father is coming to these Isles. I wonder what use it would do? I suppose that it may kindle interest in the Faith, and perhaps inspire those lapsed from the Faith to come back. It is a shame he won't visit Northern Ireland though, or is at least unlikely to, since my family are from Derry - my mother told me that they were all very disappointed when Pope John Paul II didn't visit (my uncle was so annoyed that he wrote a letter of complaint to the Vatican!), but this was 30 years ago and during the worst of The Troubles. My parents and grandparents, as do some of my readers I expect, remember the visit of Pope John Paul II to England in 1982 (some 6 years before I was born!). My grandparents went to the Masses at Wembley Stadium (they still have their tickets, I saw them once whilst rummaging through old photos) and Westminster Cathedral. Of course, they saw nothing at Westminster (as my mother told them before they left, she wisely stayed at home to watch it on TV)! Birmingham, Oxford and Edinburgh are part of the draft itinerary - I suppose Birmingham because of Cardinal Newman's Beatification. I wonder if the Holy Father knows that J.R.R Tolkien used to serve Mass there? Probably not, so I shall have to inform him when he comes to celebrate High Mass at Blackfen...