Pope Benedict makes first state visit to UK

Pope Benedict makes first state visit to UK

Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the United Kingdom on Thursday for a four-day visit. Pope will land in Edinburgh later this morning where he where he will meet the Queen. Pope will parade through the city before an open-air Mass in Glasgow.

Tens of thousands of people are set to line the streets to greet Pope Benedict. The trip is the first state visit by a pope to the U.K. The visit also coincides with the 450th anniversary of the Reformation in Scotland.

The Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of sex abuse scandals. Many European Catholics have grown more and more frustrated by what they see as Rome’s unbending conservative doctrine.