Matins Briefing

Having landed in the UK -- and, along the way, donned a scarf of the "Papal Tartan" commissioned for this PopeTrip's opening leg in Scotland -- B16's heading to lunch at the residence of his first host, Cardinal Keith O'Brien of St Andrew's and Edinburgh... at which, in true Northern style, haggis will be served.

For the record, the Popemobile's journey down the Royal Mile has seen large, enthusiastic crowds -- bigger than most Brit commentators anticipated in the visit's run-up.

During his traditional in-flight press conference, meanwhile, Benedict spoke of his "shock" and "great sadness" over the tsunami of revelations of clergy sex-abuse, pointedly adding that church leaders were "insufficiently vigilant" to the problem of pedophilia and "not sufficiently quick and decisive in taking the necessary measures" to eradicate predator priests from active ministry. (Transcript to come.)

And back here in the States, big news, particularly for the church in the Pacific Northwest as, this morning, the pontiff named Bishop Peter Sartain of Joliet as archbishop of Seattle -- with over 900,000 Catholics, the West's second-largest metropolitan see. The introduction of the Emerald City's fifth archbishop begins at 9.30 local time, 12.30 Pacific.

There's your morning line -- more from Scotland and the Space Needle as the day wends on....

PHOTO: Reuters

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