A Visit from On High

Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, will be visiting the United States in his first visit to the country since accepting the high post. He will start his visit in Washington D.C. on April 15th where he will meet with President Bush, and then he will end his trip in New York City on April 20th, where he plans to visit Ground Zero and hold mass at St. Patrick's cathedral.

The United States has the third largest congregation of Catholics in the world, but the question is whether Pope Benedict's visit will inspire followers or not. He doesn't have the same charisma that Pope John Paul II possessed, and people are already abandoning their religions at a fast pace.

The media is raising a separate point regarding this trip—that the Pope isn't here to reach out and inspire his followers, but to learn from America's ability to separate church and state. Time magazine, in its cover story on the trip, argues that Pope Benedict hopes to explore this theme in the hopes of bringing it to Europe and working with Muslim immigrants who reject religious and political separation.

Do you think the Pope's visit will influence your spirituality? [Time]