Pope's first US trip scheduled for April 15- 20 - Pope Benedict XVI's first trip to the United States next year will include a speech at the United Nations, a visit to Ground Zero and two masses in baseball stadiums.
The pope's visit, which also includes a meeting with President George W.Bush at the White House, will come seven months before American presidential elections and according to some analysts could influence its outcome.
Benedict will arrive at the Andrews Air Force base in Maryland on April 15 and leave from New York on April 20, according to an official schedule released on Monday.
Announcing details of Benedict's American visit to US bishops in Baltimore, the Holy See's nuncio in the US, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, said he hoped it would bring a "new spring to the Church in America".
Rumours that the pope was planning to travel to the US were confirmed recently when the Vatican said he had accepted an invitation from UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to address the General Assembly in New York.
The trip will come exactly three years after Benedict's election and will be his eighth official journey abroad.
On April 16, the first full day of the visit and Benedict's 81st birthday, he will meet President Bush in Washington. The two met in the Vatican in June this year after Bush attended a G8 summit in Germany.
On April 17 the pope is scheduled to hold a mass in Nationals Park, the new stadium of the Nationals baseball team, and to meet students and professors from the city's Catholic University.
The next day he will move to New York to address the UN General Assembly. On April 19 he is scheduled to preside over a mass in St Patrick's cathedral.
On the final day, the pope will visit Ground Zero, site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. In the afternoon he will hold a mass at the Yankee Stadium, home of the famous New York Yankees baseball team, before flying back to Rome.
"It is a moment of blessing for our country," said Archbishop William Skylstad, head of the US bishops' conference in a statement. "Pope Benedict is not only the leader of the world's Catholics. He is also a source of inspiration for all those who work for peace," he added.
