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The first Papal visit to Britain for 28 years may not be including Wales, but that's not going to stop Welsh Catholics from taking part.
Pope Benedict XVI visits both Scotland and England later this week, but unlike Pope John Paul II in 1982, he will not be coming to Wales.
"We were rather disappointed he isn't coming to Wales," said Collette Owen, head of Bangor's Our Lady Roman Catholic Primary School, who will be attending a mass at Westminster Cathedral.
"But at this mass he's going to be blessing a mosaic of St David at the cathedral and greeting the people of Wales to recognise the fact that we are as important as the Catholics in England and Scotland."
"So this event is going to have quite a Welsh flavour."
Back in 1982 she actually met the Pope in person.
"I was one of the district organisers of the Papal youth event held at Ninian Park in Cardiff," she explained.
"I was presented to the Pope and took with me two gifts from the diocese which he blessed and gave back to me.
"One was a specially made candle, and another a piece of Jacob's wool cloth which was made into a vestment."
Collette will be sharing some of the excitement of the Pope's visit with her pupils when they, and other Catholic children all over the UK, tune into the Big Assembly - a celebration of Catholic education - via the internet on Friday afternoon.
Eirian Bradley Roberts, head of St Helen's Catholic Primary School in Caernarfon, is taking her family to the Big Assembly, which is being held in London.
She is also attending the Hyde Park prayer vigil on Saturday, but concedes that Pope Benedict is yet to be held in such affection as his predecessor.
"There was such an amazing atmosphere in 1982," said Eirian, who also saw Pope John Paul at Ninian Park as a young student.
"You spoke to people you didn't know and felt like you were part of a special club.
"This Pope is a little more distant, but he does a very difficult job. There are lots of ideas about how the church should be run and he has to try and pull everyone together."
Those attending events during the Papal visit are doing so at the invitation of their local diocese.
"Making these complex arrangements has been a challenge because of some concerns about the Pope's security on this visit," explained Jo Charles, who's helped arrange a trip from Bangor.
"We're going to the event in Birmingham, where the Pope will be making John Henry Newman a saint."
Both Catholics and Anglicans will be on board Jo's coach as Cardinal Newman is held in high esteem in both churches.
"He was an Anglican first and then converted to Catholicism," said Jo, who's looking forward to finding out what goes on at a beatification ceremony.
"For me, the things that he wrote have always been particularly inspirational. You always tend to think of saints as people from a long time ago, but having someone from our country being made a saint is really special."
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