By BRIAN COSTELLO
Last updated: 6:52 pm
July 21, 2008
Posted: 4:16 am
July 20, 2008
As both New York baseball stadiums prepare to close, The Post looks back at the 25 most memorable moments in the history of Yankee Stadium. This week, No. 10.
Oct. 4, 1965
Over 90,000 people crammed into the Stadium to see Pope Paul VI celebrate the first Papal Mass on American soil.
The visit was a huge moment for New York Catholics, who turned out in droves to see the Pope or watched him on television.
The crowd began filling up the ballpark five hours before the Mass began on a chilly night. Outside, hawkers filled the sidewalks selling records of the Pope, pennants, statues, crucifixes, rosaries, buttons and key chains.
The Stadium had white-and-gold silk bunting, the papal colors. Blue cloth covered the outfield billboards and thousands of flowers were placed around the makeshift altar.
The Mass was celebrated in Latin, but the congregation responded in English. The Pope then delivered his sermon in English.
"Brothers and sons of New York," he said, "brothers and sons of the United Nations and of all America, all of you who have assembled here from every part of the world, we greet you and we bless you."
In accented English, the Pope said of his visit: "This is the day which we have desired for centuries. The day which, for the first time, sees the Pope setting foot on this young and glorious continent."
Two other papal visits would follow: Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass at the Stadium in 1979 and Pope Benedict XVI did the same earlier this year.
