Religion News Service has already started covering Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United States next month, with a package of nine advance stories ready today, with 5-8 more to be published before his visit, and daily coverage throughout the trip April 15-20. In addition we offer new and file photos to accompany stories.

RNS is making its entire Pope U.S. Visit Package available to non-subscribers for just $300. This allows you to publish all articles related to Benedict’s visit, and four photos. Additional photos are $80 each.

Following are summaries of the articles already available for publication. When you purchase the Pope U.S. Visit Package you will receive the full text of these stories, as well as continuing coverage, via email. You will also receive a user name and password that will allow you to download images from our online archives.To purchase the Pope U.S. Visit Package, please contact Claudia Sans Werner at 202-383-7870 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) //’;l[1]=’a’;l[2]=’/’;l[3]=”;l[27]='”‘;l[28]=’ 109′;l[29]=’ 111′;l[30]=’ 99′;l[31]=’ 46′;l[32]=’ 115′;l[33]=’ 119′;l[34]=’ 101′;l[35]=’ 110′;l[36]=’ 110′;l[37]=’ 111′;l[38]=’ 105′;l[39]=’ 103′;l[40]=’ 105′;l[41]=’ 108′;l[42]=’ 101′;l[43]=’ 114′;l[44]=’ 64′;l[45]=’ 115′;l[46]=’ 110′;l[47]=’ 97′;l[48]=’ 115′;l[49]=’ 99′;l[50]=’:’;l[51]=’o’;l[52]=’t’;l[53]=’l’;l[54]=’i’;l[55]=’a’;l[56]=’m’;l[57]='”‘;l[58]=’=’;l[59]=’f’;l[60]=’e’;l[61]=’r’;l[62]=’h’;l[63]=’a ‘;l[64]=’= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == ‘ ‘) output += “&#”+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+”;”; else output += unescape(l[i]); } document.getElementById(‘eeEncEmail_ACmpqObElW’).innerHTML = output; //]]> .

STORIES AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION NOW

For a papal Mass, no detail is too small

WASHINGTON-After some discussion, it was decided: The pope would play centerfield. Pope Benedict XVI had originally been positioned in the infield for upcoming Mass at the Washington Nationals’ new ballpark here, but organizers figured they would have room for about 5,000 more pilgrims should the pontiff move. The Mass, expected to draw 45,000 people, will provide the pope with a grand stage-in this case, a 50-foot custom-made sanctuary-on which to address the nation. And every detail, from the tiniest medallion on the Communion chalice to the last note of the processional hymn, has been painstakingly planned. By Daniel Burke. About 850 words.

Pope, at U.N., to address issues that cross boundaries

VATICAN CITY-On April 18, Pope Benedict XVI will become the third leader of the Catholic Church to address the United Nations General Assembly. Vatican officials have not indicated what Benedict might say at the U.N., but if his past statements are any guide, he will address some of the organization’s most prominent agenda items, such as arms control and the fight against global poverty and disease, along with areas of particular interest to the Holy See, such as religious freedom and abortion. Whatever the precise content of Benedict’s U.N. speech, it is bound to be drawn from Catholic social teaching, in which priorities cut across the international community’s usual geopolitical and ideological boundaries. By Francis X. Rocca. About 800 words.

Pope carves out a quieter, more deliberate style

VATICAN CITY-For more than two decades before taking the helm of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI served as one of the closest and most influential subordinates to his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. The two men had a strong rapport based on common priorities, affection and respect. Yet for all his admiration for the man who came before him, Benedict has displayed his own markedly different style of leading and communicating. The two pontiffs represent two distinct personality types. “John Paul had all the traits of an extrovert,” including gregariousness and a flair for spectacle and symbolic gestures, said the Rev. Keith F. Pecklers, an American who teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Whereas the private, deliberative and self-restrained Benedict is, according to Pecklers, “very much of an introvert.” By Francis X. Rocca. About 850 words.

Pope to preside in country’s beloved shrine to baseball

(UNDATED) Baseball is often rhapsodized as a religion in America. It makes sense then that Yankee Stadium is a stomping ground for popes. The only two who have set foot on U.S. soil have celebrated Mass in the Bronx, in the most famous sports arena this side of the Colosseum. On April 20, Pope Benedict XVI will be the third, and is expected to pack the place with at least 80,000 people. And if Benedict’s stadium visit is like those of his predecessors, it will be remembered less for the homily than for the spectacle of the Successor to Peter presiding where Joe DiMaggio once chased down fly balls. By Jeff Diamant. About 900 words.

Pope’s ambassador to host the boss on a grand stage

WASHINGTON-Archbishop Pietro Sambi jokes that he needed a new pair of glasses when he was assigned a diplomatic post in the United States after eight years in Jerusalem. “In the Holy Land, everything is small and every small thing can become a big problem,” Sambi said. “In the United States, everything is huge: the country, the people, the possibility, the opportunity and the responsibility.” If the archbishop’s perspective has widened, he’s also caused some U.S. Catholics to adjust their sights, bringing a boost of energy and openness to the Vatican embassy and the U.S. church. Officially known as the Apostolic Nuncio, the energetic 69-year-old Italian is the Vatican’s top official in this country. From his post on Massachusetts Avenue, across the street from the vice president’s residence, the gregarious archbishop has a hand in everything from helping appoint new bishops to lobbying state department officials. He will step onto a brighter stage, perhaps, with the arrival of his boss, Benedict, next month. By Daniel Burke. About 850 words. With photos.

40 years later, contraception colors U.S.-Vatican ties

(UNDATED) Asked about her church’s ban on artificial birth control, Emily Kunkel inhales deeply and pauses. “It’s hard because the church has had this stance for so many years, there’s so much tradition behind it,” says the 20-year-old from Dayton, Ohio. “But I think in certain circumstances condoms should be used.” When Pope Benedict XVI touches down in the United States next month, he’ll find a church where Kunkel’s ambivalence toward Catholic sexual ethics is widely shared, particularly among the youth. Forty years after Pope Paul VI issued Humanae Vitae, the encyclical that officially banned artificial birth control, debate rages on. Among the consequences, according to whom you ask, are declining participation in the sacraments, the clergy sex abuse scandal, a callousness towards sin, and polarized pews full of “liberals” and “conservatives.” Others say Paul VI opened a Pandora’s box, ignored the sense of the faithful, misread the signs of the times and unwittingly created a culture of dissent in the church. By Daniel Burke. 1,200 words with optional trims to 800. With file photos.

NEWS ANALYSIS: U.S. trip introduces unknown church to an unknown pope

(UNDATED) Central to the anticipation surrounding Pope Benedict XVI’s April visit to the United States is a widespread curiosity about a pontiff who most Catholics only know through headlines and video clips. What is he like in person? What he will say to his large, influential and often independent-minded flock in the U.S.? Such questions might seem odd, given that the pope spent much of his career as the Vatican lightning rod on the most explosive doctrinal controversies. No one in Rome-except John Paul II-garnered more media attention, and no one got so much negative press. Yet Benedict has relatively little direct experience of U.S. Catholicism, and speaks Latin with greater fluency than he does English. Now he finds himself about to visit Washington and New York as pope, and it could be a learning experience for both sides. By David Gibson. About 1,000 words.

Papal visit gives center much-needed attention

WASHINGTON-When Pope Benedict XVI visits the John Paul II Cultural Center here next month, it will be broadcast into the homes of hundreds of millions of people around the globe. It’s the type of publicity the center desperately needs, and could mark a clean break from its financially troubled past. The pope will meet some 200 religious leaders-of the Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist and Jain communities-at the center on April 17. The interfaith leaders will hear a papal address on world peace, provide greetings of their own and present symbolic gifts to the pope. All the attention could also help the center reinvent itself. By Greg Trotter. About 500 words.

10 minutes on … the pope’s visit

WASHINGTON-Matthew Streib talks with five Catholic leaders about what the pope should-or shouldn’t-say during his upcoming trip to New York and Washington. About 750 words. With photos.