More than half of tickets snapped up for Pope's Birmingham visit

Around 60 per cent of the tickets for the papal mass in Birmingham have already been allocated it has been revealed.

Pope Benedict XVI is visiting the city on September 19 when he will hold an open air mass in Cofton Park, Rednal.

The £25 tickets, dubbed pilgrim's passes, are being made available through individual parishes.

Some of the finer details of the day have now been revealed by the Archbishop of Birmingham, The Most Rev Bernard Longley.

Speaking at St Chad's Cathedral in the city centre yesterday, he said that he had met with the Pope in Rome in January and talked about his forthcoming visit.

"He spoke of his excitement and I reassured him of our own interest and our preparation for the event and how much we are looking forward to seeing him," he said.

"I would say around 60 per cent of the pilgrim's passes have already been allocated, we are confident that we will be over subscribed."

He described the Pope's visit as a pilgrimage to Cardinal John Henry Newman, the Birmingham scholar and famous19th century convert from the Church of England to Catholicism.

Pope Benedict will hold an open air mass at Cofton Park, at 10am. Around 70,000 people are expected to attend.