Still no confirmation of papal visit in 2008
The Roman Catholic Church says it's confident that Pope Benedict XVI will visit Quebec City for an international event in 2008, but a news conference Thursday fell short of confirming the trip.
Instead, Cardinal Marc Ouellet announced that the Pope will bless a symbolic ark for the 49th International Eucharistic Congress in June of that year.
Ouellet told reporters it's too early to say for sure if Benedict will come to Canada.
"We will know with certainty about a year before, that's my expectation," he said.
"Obviously, the Pope is 79 years old now, so in a couple of years he will be 81, so I hope he will be in good condition."
Ouellet said receiving the papal blessing is a good sign of things to come.
Whichever Pope is presiding at the time usually goes to the Eucharistic Congress. Only two of the events since the 1960s have not included a papal appearance.
Ouellet said he expects between 12,000 and 15,000 people to participate in the 2008 congress.
As many as 250,000 could gather for a closing mass on the Plains of Abraham if the Pope takes part, organizers have estimated.
Media reports Wednesday predicted Benedict's first visit to Canada would be confirmed at Ouellet's news conference on Thursday.
Ouellet, primate of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada, had said he had good news from Rome to share at the event, but he wouldn't give any more details.
Catholics in Quebec City have been lobbying for a papal visit for at least five years. They first extended an invitation to Pope John Paul II to attend the International Eucharistic Congress being planned for 2008.
In October 2004, John Paul said he hoped to attend the congress if his health permitted it.
However, his medical problems worsened over the following winter, and he died in April 2005.
When Ouellet travelled to Rome to participate in electing a new pope, he invited Benedict to participate in the closing ceremony of the Quebec City congress.
"I have a close relationship to him and I think he will come," Ouellet said at the time. "Really. I am positive about that. He will come."
Canada's last papal visit was in 2002, when John Paul II travelled to Toronto for World Youth Day. He celebrated mass at Downsview Park for an estimated 750,000 participants.