Visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom from 16 to 19 September 2010 was the first state visit by a pope to the United Kingdom (Pope John Paul II made a pastoral, rather than state, visit to Great Britain in 1982). The visit included the beatification of Cardinal Newman as a "pastoral highlight".

His visit included meetings with the Queen, the First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader David Cameron, and leaders of the other main political parties.

An invitation to visit Britain was extended to Pope Benedict XVI by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown in February 2009. The Pope's visit featured in the debates between party leaders in April 2010, prior to the 2010 United Kingdom General Election, where all three party leaders expressed support for the visit, while expressing disagreement with some of the Pope's views.

Anjoum Noorani of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was originally a key contact between the British Government and the papal visit team. However, he was suspended from overseas postings and given a final warning, to last for five years, after approving the sending of a memo written by Steven Mulvain, a 23-year-old Oxford graduate, mocking the visit. Subsequently the new Government appointed liberal CatholicLord Patten to get the visit back on track following a series of setbacks.

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