1982 visit by Pope John Paul II to the United Kingdom

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.

The visit, the first to the United Kingdom made by a reigning pope,[1] was organised, and largely funded, by the Roman Catholic Church at an estimated cost of around £7 million (the equivalent of about £20M in 2010).

After kissing the runway, he was greeted there by 3,500 singing children, Basil Cardinal Hume, Archbishop of Westminster and Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton (the Roman Catholic diocese in which the airport is located).

[5] The Pope later travelled from Gatwick Airport railway station to London Victoria by special train 975025 Caroline[6] and from there went to Westminster Cathedral, where he celebrated his first Mass of the visit.

[2] On 30 May, after a meeting with over 20,000 of his fellow Polish countrymen at the Crystal Palace stadium in London, the Pope travelled by helicopter to Coventry, where he celebrated Mass at the city's Baginton Airport in the presence of some 300,000 people.

On 31 May, the Pope visited Manchester, where he met the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Sir Immanuel Jakobovits at the Convent of the Poor Sisters of Nazareth.

He told worshippers "as believers, we are constantly exposed to pressures by modern society which would compel us to conform to the standards of this secular age, substitute new proprieties, restrict our aspirations at risk of compromising our Christian conscience.

After he was awarded the Freedom of Cardiff, a city which received its royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1581, several years after she had been declared deposed by Pope Pius V in his bull Regnans in Excelsis (departing from his decision to avoid political meetings during his visit), John Paul II travelled to Pontcana Fields where he celebrated Mass for over 100,000 people, speaking briefly in Welsh to declare "Bendith Duw arnoch" – "the blessing of God be on you" – which was received with enthusiastic applause.

According to the BBC's Michael Hirst, John Paul II's visit to the United Kingdom was the biggest event for British Catholics since their emancipation during the 19th century.

[1] In contrast to the generally positive reaction, there were a small number of demonstrations, mostly by supporters of the Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party leader, the Rev.