Pope

If Mark Thompson meets the Pope, it might happen in Birmingham.  The DG worships at the Oxford Oratory Church of St Aloysius Gonzaga in Woodstock Road.  It's the Oratory Cardinal Newman dreamed of setting up, but never did, after his move out of Oxford and the Church of England.  The Cardinal will be beatified on September 19th, marked by a celebration of a mass by the Pope at Cofton Park (next to the disused Longbridge plant, but more importantly, not far from Rednal, where Cardinal Newman's first Oratory in England had a house).

The Pope will go on to visit Birmingham Oratory - it was members from there who eventually established St Aloysius in Oxford as a separate Oratory. St Aloysius now wants to build a new chapel and library as a memorial to the Cardinal (£1m raised, £5m needed, planning permission sought)  So there might well be a coach party from Oxford on hand....