Last week, Pope Benedict XVI began his first visit to the United States. The significance of the occasion also was apparent in the group assembled on the tarmac to greet the Holy Father - President George W. Bush himself. This is believed to be the first time an American president has greeted a visiting foreign dignitary directly upon arrival. The White House has pulled out all the stops for the pope’s visit - with a 12,000-person dinner and lawn birthday commemoration, among other things.

Most visiting foreign leaders are not accorded this sort of pomp. In fact, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s concurrent visit to the U.S. has barely been mentioned by either the White House or the media. The papal visit, on the other hand, dominated virtually all news sources during the entirety of his stay.

That widespread coverage has revealed a side of the pope that has heretofore been rarely seen. Benedict XVI became pontiff after the death of his predecessor John Paul.

Paul had a magnetic and extremely charismatic personality. He became famous for his widely televised and often fiery speeches. He was the man who stood up to the mafia in Sicily and railed against Cuba’s state-imposed atheism. His more than 1.1 million miles of travels took him to far reaches of the globe that previously had never been visited by any Pope. Paul also made an effort to reach out to other religions, by hosting the Dalai Lama, and visiting Jerusalem’s Western Wall and the Umayyad Mosque in Turkey. The much-beloved “JP Two” frequently ranked among the most admired figures of his era.

As with any such office, holders of the papacy are often compared to their predecessor. The current pope is not, by most accounts, nearly as effortlessly charming as Paul, nor does he command as much media adulation. He is considered a shy man who is extremely well-studied in Catholic doctrine. He certainly is a traditionalist in most respects. His knowledge of Catholic religious writings and philosophy is reputedly second to none. His academic and eloquent speeches sometimes inadvertently offend other groups - evidenced by Muslims taking offence at his quoting an anti-Muslim emperor from the Middle Ages. To many people, Benedict was an eminently qualified pope who, nevertheless, seemed a little cold and distant.

The U.S. visit partially was an effort to change that, and it seems to have succeeded.