Prime Minister Gordon Brown has invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit Britain.
The invitation was made during a meeting held in the Vatican on Thursday 19 February, 2009.
‘I said that many millions of people would not only welcome his visit but that it would be a great moment for our whole country,’ Brown said.
It would be the first visit by a Pope to the United Kingdom since the late Pope John Paul visited in 1982.
Brown said he suggested to the Pope that he could consider making the visit coincide with the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, one of the most prominent English converts from Anglicanism to Catholicism. It is expected for this year or next.
