Pope John Paul II's visit to the United Kingdom

The visit of Pope John Paul II to the United Kingdom in 1982 was the first visit to that country by a reigning pope. The pope arrived in the UK on Friday 28 May, and during his time there visited nine cities, delivering 16 major addresses. Among significant events were a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, a joint service alongside the then-Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie at Canterbury Cathedral, meeting with and addressing the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at The Mound, and five large open air Masses in London, Coventry, Manchester, Glasgow, and Cardiff. Following his six-day visit which took him to locations in England, Scotland and Wales, he returned to the Vatican on 2 June.

Unlike the 2010 papal visit of his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, John Paul II's was a pastoral rather than a state visit, and was consequently funded by the Catholic Church in the UK rather than the Government. The trip was almost cancelled because Britain was then at war with Argentina, which had invaded the British possession of the Falkland Islands. This visit had to be balanced for fairness with an unscheduled trip to Argentina that June. Over 2 million people attended events hosted by the Pope, with the visit said to be the biggest event for British Catholics since their emancipation.

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