Pope Set to Visit Ground Zero
John Edwards for NewsMax
Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2002
Pope John Paul II is planning to visit New York’s Ground Zero this summer, NewsMax has learned from sources close to the Catholic Church.
The decision has raised serious security concerns, because New York remains a target city and the pope, the most significant Christian leader, is believed to be a target for Muslim extremists.
This July the pope is scheduled to travel to Toronto for the annual World Youth Day jamboree, an event he attends each year.
The Archdiocese of New York has already informed New York authorities that the pope wishes to visit the World Trade Center site.
But the news is not being welcomed in all quarters – because some officials fear that a planned papal visit may lead hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful to pour into Manhattan, creating a potential terrorist target.
A source close to the Church tells NewsMax that the pope may make an impromptu visit to New York en route from Toronto to Mexico.
The pope is expected to travel to Mexico, where he plans to preside over the canonization of Juan Diego, a Mexican to whom Catholics say the Virgin Mary appeared as Our Lady of Guadalupe.
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