Benedict and the Big Apple

Pope Benedict XVI this morning is on the move to New York City, having wrapped up his three-day visit to Washington, D.C., with his historic meeting with clergy sexual abuse victims yesterday afternoon and then a speech to educators and an interfaith gathering.

This morning is the speech that drew the pope to these shores in the first place: an address to the United Nations. This is a big moment for a pope -- John Paul II spoke at the UN twice, in 1979 and 1995, and Paul VI spoke at the UN in 1965. (Sorry, but the Vatican has posted the older speeches only in Italian.)

Benedict talked about his expectations for the speech during his remarks at the White House Wednesday morning, where he said, "On Friday, God willing, I will have the honor of addressing the United Nations Organization, where I hope to encourage the efforts under way to make that institution an ever more effective voice for the legitimate aspirations of all the world’s peoples. On this, the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the need for global solidarity is as urgent as ever, if all people are to live in a way worthy of their dignity – as brothers and sisters dwelling in the same house and around that table which God’s bounty has set for all his children."

New York, of course, is greeting the pope with tabloid headlines. The Daily News splashes this morning with "The Pope of Hope," while the New York Post goes for a rebus, featuring the letters NY, an image of a heart with the papal seal inside, and a picture of the pope, along with the words, "Pope's Big Apple Weekend.'' Of course, inside, the Post gives the pontiff the tabloid treatment, featuring stories with the headlines "Papal audience for perv-priest victims" and "Cathedral cab bursts into fiery inferno.''

In New York I'll be joined by my colleague Michael Levenson, who took a look around yesterday while I was wrapping up in DC; if you missed his look at preparations, here it is.

posted by Michael Paulson, Globe Staff

For all the blog posts on the papal visit, go here.

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