The Herald understands the state element will be underlined immediately on the Pope’s arrival at Edinburgh Airport, Scotland being the first stage of the four-day visit, where he is expected to be met by Prince Charles, with Cardinal Keith O’Brien, head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, and Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster.
Others with access include a tier of diplomatic dignitaries and a group of “Vamps”, Vatican-approved media personnel.
The Queen’s Scottish spokesman said no details of the visit, including which member of the Royal Family would meet the Pope on his arrival, would be released until closer to the time.
She said: “For a state visit it is normally a couple of weeks beforehand, perhaps even less. At that stage an operational note will be issued offering more information.”
However, a number of sources close to the organisation of the visit, have said the Queen is insisting upon the pontiff being met by a member of the royal household for largely symbolic reasons, with Charles expected to meet the Pope in London if he is unavailable on September 16.
From the airport, the pontiff will travel to meet the Queen and Prince Phillip at Holyrood Palace, at which point he will be introduced to Scotland and the UK’s political leadership and the leaders of other religious faiths.
At a recent address to Scotland’s Catholic bishops in Rome, the Pope outlined the issues he saw facing his flock in Scotland, including Catholic education, sectarianism and “the great rupture with Scotland’s past that occurred 450 years ago”.
Although these, and the Act of Settlement, are issues the Vatican and Catholic hierarchy are expected to discuss with UK officials in the run-up to the visit, even with her position as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the Pope and Queen are expected to engage in little beyond diplomatic social niceties on the day.
The Pope will then leave Holyrood Palace late morning or early afternoon and travel to Cardinal O’Brien’s official residence in the Morningside area via a procession along Princes Street.
Given his elderly years, the Pope is then scheduled to have an afternoon nap at the Cardinal’s residence before embarking on his journey to Glasgow.
The pontiff will travel to Glasgow via the M8, which will have special traffic restrictions in place, and may stop at the Carfin Grotto in Lanarkshire if there is time.
When in Glasgow, he is expected to be greeted by 200,000 members of his flock. While down on the 300,000 who attended the city’s Bellahouston Park for John Paul II in 1982, this is as much to do with new restrictions on capacity than a less enthusiastic response second time around.
Later on the visit the Pope will beatify the 19th-century theologian and educationalist Cardinal John Henry Newman at a public mass in Coventry. He will also conduct a prayer vigil in Hyde Park, London.
He will also meet the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace and pray with other church leaders at Westminster Abbey.
