Papal visit: Pope to begin historic UK trip

Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in Edinburgh at the start of the first papal visit to the UK for 28 years.

He will meet the Queen at Holyrood House and parade through the city before an open-air Mass in Glasgow.

Tens of thousands of people are set to line the streets to greet him, although some protests are also planned.

One of the Pope's aides has pulled out of the trip after reportedly saying arriving at Heathrow airport was like landing in a "Third World country".

The trip is the first to the UK by a Pontiff since John Paul II in 1982. It is also the first to be designated a state visit because the Pope has been invited by the Queen rather than the church.

The papal plane left Rome's Ciampino airport at about 0720 local time. On board with the Pope were about 30 senior Vatican officials and dozens of journalists.

The pilot raised the union jack and the papal standard from the cockpit as the plane taxied along the runway.

The Pope will be greeted on the tarmac by the Duke of Edinburgh and a 30-strong honour guard from the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Vatican officials say Pope Benedict plans to use his visit to highlight the importance of the role of faith for everyone in contemporary Britain, not just Catholics and Anglicans.

Child abuse

Monsignor Michael Regan, who has been in charge of planning the first leg of the trip, said: "He's a Pontiff, he's the bridge-builder, and hopefully his visit to Edinburgh today, and to the United Kingdom, will be building bridges in a whole variety of different ways."

Prime Minister David Cameron has said it will be "a very special four days, not just for our six million Catholics, but for many people of faith right across Britain".

But the Pope's visit is controversial among campaigners who say they were sexually abused by Catholic priests as children.

Bill Kilgallon, head of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission, said he was confident a private meeting between the Pope and victims would go ahead during the trip.

In Edinburgh, Presbyterians, secularists, and other groups are planning to protest against Vatican policies on birth control, gay rights and abortion, but police have said they do not expect large-scale demonstrations.

link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11313328