"Pray for the success of my visit"

"This Tuesday I leave Rome for my visit to the United Nations Organization and the United States of America.

"With the various groups I shall meet, my intention is to share our Lord’s word of life. In Christ is our hope! Christ is the foundation of our hope for peace, for justice, and for the freedom that flows from God’s law fulfilled in his commandment to love one another.

"Dear brothers and sisters, I ask you all to pray for the success of my visit, so that it may be a time of spiritual renewal for all Americans. Upon each of you present, I invoke the protection and guidance of Jesus the Good Shepherd."

Pope Benedict XVI
following the recitation of the Regina Caeli today