The negotiations that led to Pope Benedict XVI’s scheduled appearance in the Washington Nationals’ ballpark in April began with a personal call from Washington’s archbishop to the Lerner organization that owns the team, said a person close to those talks.
That initial call from Archbishop of Washington Donald Wuerl has touched off energetic planning that is still well short of completion, said Mark Touhey, a former chairman of the D.C. sports and entertainment commission who has been informally involved in the talks.
Stan Kasten, president of the Nationals, is now the point man for the visit, Touhey said. “The Lerners have been very magnanimous [since being approached by the archbishop],” said Touhey. “This visit will be a win-win for the city and the faith community.”
As for the city, Mayor Adrian Fenty and his top aides are treating the pope’s visit and his Mass at the Washington Nationals’ ballpark as they did Queen Elizabeth II’s stopover earlier this year. But the city has stayed out of the details of the stadium event.
“We absolutely had nothing to do with the negotiations for the pope’s visit,” said Gregory O’Dell, chief executive officer of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, which is overseeing ballpark construction. “For all intents and purposes they’re free to book their own events.”
Fenty said Tuesday his homeland security team will stay in constant contact with the Vatican until and throughout the papal visit, but beyond that, the local government has had little to say and security plans are not being released. The price tag has not yet been determined.
The U.S. Secret Service will be the lead agency on security.
Pope Benedict is slated to visit Washington and New York from April 15-20. He will be welcomed at the White House April 16, his 81st birthday. On April 17, the plan now is to celebrate Mass at the 41,000-seat Nationals’ stadium — roughly a week after it opens — visit the Catholic University campus and attend a meeting at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.
The effort to draw the pope to Washington, the first papal visit to the city since Pope John Paul II in 1979, started in June when word leaked out about his plan to address the United Nations. Wuerl then invited him to visit D.C.
“He wrote a letter and did a lot of praying,” archdiocese spokeswoman Susan Gibbs said of Wuerl. “The combination worked.”
The decision to host Mass at the stadium over the National Mall, Gibbs said, was a matter of logistics. The ballpark is large, enclosed — making it easier to secure — and accessible by Metro. Tickets will probably be distributed through parishes.
Examiner Senior White House Correspondent Bill Sammon contributed to this article.
