Former Quebec cabinet minister Marc Bellemare, a Quebec City lawyer, who launched a petition to bring the Pope to Quebec City, said the recent addition of a papal trip within Italy the weekend the Congress begins still gives the Pope “just enough time to come to Quebec at the end of the Congress.”

In an interview from Quebec City Jan. 9, Bellemare said the petition had reached more than 13,000 names, including the electronic petition at www.pape2008.com. The Quebec Hebdo newspaper, with a circulation of 200,000, had recently printed a copy of the petition. Bellemare expected the petition to grow before he and a delegation bring the petition to the apostolic nunciature in Ottawa Jan. 17.

Bellemare said he had received word from Rome the Pope is still looking at the possibility and will try hard to come.

“We hope he’ll come this year,” Bellemare said. But in the event he does not come to the Congress, Bellemare said he hoped the Pope will put a visit on his agenda for another time.

Congress communications officer Amélie Pineau said Jan. 8 the organizing team hopes to learn the Pope’s decision by the end of January. But she said how or when the Pope might make his decision known is still uncertain.