The last event, perhaps the most exciting one", in the Pope’s journey in the USA will be his "stop" at Ground Zero, the place of the tragic terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, where Benedict XVI will arrive at 9.30 am on April 20th. Even if "it is one of the most longed-for events", the Pope "will give no speech", said father Federico Lombardi, director of the Newsroom of the Holy See, in today’s "briefing". "It is he added an event of prayer, meditation and respect for the tragedy that took place there". The Pope will actually go down into the huge crater, 70-80 metres deep, which gets down to the foundation on which the Manhattan skyscrapers rest. There, Benedict XVI will meet three authorities the Mayor of New York, the Governor of New York, and the Governor of New Jersey and 24 people on behalf of the categories that were involved in the Twin Towers attack: some survivors, the victims’ relatives, delegates of the police, fire brigade and civil defence. At the bottom of the crater, the Holy Father will say a prayer and will lit a candle before greeting the people and go back up, after a meeting that will last around half an hour. In the afternoon, Mass at the Yankee Stadium in New York, which can contain up to 60 thousand people, dedicated to the five dioceses and archdioceses that celebrate the 200th anniversary of their birth: New York, Baltimore, Boston, Louiseville and Philadelphia.
