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Cardinal Gray and Archbishop Winning fly to Rome to pray for peace in the Falklands and persuade the Pope not to cancel his trip to Britain

On the 23rd of August 1980, Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster, and Derek Worlock, Archbishop of Liverpool and Chairman of the National Pastoral Congress of the Roman Catholic Church of England and Wales held in Liverpool in 1980 took a copy of The Easter People, the response of the bishops to the Congress, to Pope John Paul II and invited him to visit their Roman Catholic Community. Cardinal Gray issued a similar invitation from the people of Scotland. When, on the 2nd of April, Argentine forces occupied the Falkland Islands, the proposed visit was cast into doubt. Cardinals Basil Hume and Gordon Gray were summoned to Rome by the Pope to brief him on the possible consequences of the conflict for his visit. On Friday the 21st of May in Rome a historic meeting took place between the Pope and Cardinals Basil Hume and Gordon Gray from Great Britain, and Raul Francisco Primatesta, Archbishop of Cordoba, and Juan Carlos de Aramburu, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, from Argentina. Having left the final decision on the proposed visit to the British church leaders, on the 25th of May the Vatican finally confirmed that the visit would indeed go ahead as planned.
(Abridged from 'The Pope in Britain' by Peter Jennings and Eamonn McCabe, The Bodley Head, 1982)


Scottish National Youth Pilgrimage, Murrayfield, Edinburgh, 31 May 1982

Approximately 45,000 young people from all over Scotland gathered to welcome the Pope to Scotland. After the official welcome by Cardinal Gordon Gray, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, the Pope addressed those gathered at the home of Scottish Rugby. He ended his speech with a rallying cry to the young people of Scotland: ‘Do not let the sight of the world in turmoil shake your confidence in Jesus. Not even the threat of nuclear war. Remember his words: ‘Be brave: I have conquered the world’ (John 16:33). Let no temptation discourage you. Let no failure hold you down. There is nothing that you cannot master with the help of the One who gives you strength.’


Meeting with Scottish Church Leaders, Edinburgh, 1 June 1982

The Pope met with the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Right Reverend Professor John McIntyre, at Cardinal Gray’s residence, and at a meeting with other church leaders expressed his pleasure at the collaboration and dialogue in which the Catholic Church in Scotland was engaged with the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church and other Churches, and with the Scottish Churches’ Council.


National Mass for Scotland, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, 1 June 1982

The Most Reverend Thomas Winning, Archbishop of Glasgow, and nearly 300,000 people from all over Scotland welcomed Pope John Paul II to Bellahouston Park in Glasgow on the 1st of June, 1982. During the Pope’s address, the crowd applauded for nearly eight minutes, and at the end of the Mass they sang ‘Will Ye No Come Back Again?’


Photographs

(copyright reserved: L'Osservatore Romano and Pontificia Felici)

Pope John Paul II Meeting people at Turnhouse The Shrine of St Andrew, St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh The Mound, Edinburgh At Rosewell Bellahouston from the air
Pope John Paul II Meeting people at Turnhouse The Shrine of St Andrew, St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh The Mound, Edinburgh At Rosewell Bellahouston from the air
Delivering Homily at Bellahouston Farewell with Bishop Conti Leaving Scotland
Delivering Homily at Bellahouston Farewell with Bishop Conti Leaving Scotland


Speeches and Homilies

To the young people of Scotland, Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, 31 May 1982

To the Clergy and Religious, Cathedral of St Mary's, Edinburgh, 31 May 1982

Meeting with Church Leaders, Edinburgh, 1 June 1982

To the handicapped, St Joseph's Hospital, Rosewell, Edinburgh, 1 June 1982

To the teachers and students, St Andrew's College, Bearsden, Glasgow, 1 June 1982

Mass at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, 1 June 1982

To the Bishops' Conference, Edinburgh 1 June 1982



Archives of the Papal Visit to Scotland, 1982

As John Tulley, Executive Officer for the Papal Visit to Scotland said, writing in ‘The Pope in Scotland, 1982’: ‘In the Scottish Catholic Archives, under the safe custody of the Archivist … will be a collection of materials, in typescript and print (newspapers, magazines and books), photographs, cassettes, souvenirs and much more, which will be perhaps the fullest record yet made of any event in the history of the [Catholic] Church in Scotland.


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