Every time Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is greeted by Pope Benedict XVI at Vatican events, the pontiff asks – “Where are you from?”
“When I say Brooklyn, his face lights up with a big smile,” said DiMarzio, who heads the Brooklyn Diocese, which also encompasses Queens.
DiMarzio himself has been smiling a lot lately, after being given the high-profile job of welcoming Benedict to JFK Airport in Queens during a ceremony Friday morning, and seeing the pontiff off there two days later with dignitaries including Vice President Dick Cheney.
“Obviously, when the pope comes, it’s a special day. It doesn’t happen all the time,” DiMarzio said of Benedict’s three-day Big Apple visit.
DiMarzio intends to make the most of the pope’s passing through the demographically broad diocese by having people representing more than two dozen cultural and ethnic groups participate in Sunday’s departure ceremony.
“This is who we are in the diocese and we are emphasizing that,” the bishop said, adding that when Benedict was still a cardinal, he visited the diocese and “was surprised by the diversity.”
DiMarzio has high hopes for Benedict’s visit, particularly when it comes to bolstering faith among American Catholics.
“We’re looking at it as an affirmation of how the church is in this country,” he said.
DiMarzio also is hoping that on Friday, during an address to the United Nations, Benedict will follow the example of Pope Paul VI, who in a 1965 speech at the UN famously said, “No more war, never again war.”
“I think this pope is going to say something as significant,” DiMarzio predicted. “I hope again he will give a message to the world about peace.”
Asked if he believed that Benedict’s expected remarks during his trip about the clerical sexual-abuse crisis would satisfy critics, DiMarzio said, “Healing is a long-term process. You don’t heal this kind of wound with a Band-Aid, it’s not going to be one speech [that does so] but I think he’s going to set the right tone.”