Red

As the celebration of the mass begins, archbishops, bishops and other church officials join the procession moving toward the alter at National's Park in Washington, D.C.  The celebration marked the first pilgrimage to the United States of Pope Benedict XVI and the first Papal visit to the nation's capitol in nearly thirty years.

The red vestments, made especialy for the occasion, featured a crest including the arms of the Calvert family. The Calverts, better known by their title as Lord Baltimore, established the first English Catholic settlement in America in St. Mary's County, Maryland; less than an hour from where the Pontiff celebrated the open air mass.