Gatwick
Arrival
8am, Friday, 28 May 1982
The thirteenth Pastoral Visit of Pope John Paul II’s pontificate got underway as the wheels of his Alitalia 727 aircraft touched down at London Gatwick Airport a little after 8am on a hot Friday morning in May.
He was greeted by the Rt Revd Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton and the man he succeeded as Cardinal, his eminence Basil Hume.
Pope John Paul knelt to kiss British soil for the first time before addressing the crowd:
"My visit is taking place at a time of tension and anxiety, a time when the attention of the world has been focused on the delicate situation of the conflict in the South Atlantic.
"At this moment of history, we stand in urgent need of reconciliation: reconciliation between nations and between peoples of different races and cultures; reconciliation of man within himself and with nature; reconciliation among people of different social conditions and beliefs, reconciliation among Christians.
"So I begin my pastoral visit to Britain with the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ: 'Peace be with you'. May the God of peace and reconciliation be with you all. May he bless your families and homes with his deep and abiding peace."
Cardinal Cormac remembers greeting the Holy Father twenty-five years ago:
“I said: ’Welcome Holy Father, it’s going to be a great week for you’, and then coming out of the plane he came down I stood behind him and it was a wonderful moment, and obviously he remembered it because next time I saw him I met him in Rome and said: ‘Hello Holy Father, it’s good to see you again’ and he said: “Ah the Bishop of Gatwick!” So he remembered Gatwick.”
The Cardinal also tried his best to help his family get a good view of the historic moment:
“After greeting the bishops and the cardinals I accompanied him over to visit the crowds, and so he immediately came [forward] to shake their hands and go along, and I remember I had an aunt, a nun there who was trying to get forward, so I was shouting in the Pope’s ear: “Holy Father…that’s my aunt,” I don’t think he understood me because my poor aunt was 80 something at the time trying to get forward.”
Click here to listen to the Cardinal recalling greeting the Pope at Gatwick
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