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The Pope comes to Downsview—twice!

By the time Pope John Paul II paid his first visit to Canada in 1984, he was already six years into his pontificate, had made twenty-two foreign trips, and visited forty-four countries, several of them more than once. But who’s counting?

Pope John Paul II holds the Downsview Mass, 1984

Pope John Paul II holds the Downsview Mass, 1984

Canadians were happy to wait their turn. And when John Paul II arrived in Quebec City on September 9 to kick off a twelve-day cross-country tour, he became the first Pope to touch Canadian soil.


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