LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- Pope Benedict XVI will visit England and Scotland from September 16-19 , Queen Elizabeth II announced . It will be the first state visit to the United Kingdom by a pontiff , the Foreign Office said , noting that Pope John Paul II 's 1982 trip was officially a pastoral visit , while Benedict 's is a `` papal visit . '' The official announcement comes as the Vatican reels from accusations that it did not do enough to stop child abuse by priests , nuns and other Catholic authority figures across Europe for decades . Benedict is working on an official statement , or pastoral letter , to Catholics in Ireland , where a damning government-backed report into child abuse by priests prompted four bishops to resign last year . There have also been widespread accusations against priests in Germany , Austria and the Netherlands . The queen will receive the pope at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh , Scotland , during his September visit , the Foreign Office said . Benedict will give `` a major speech to British civil society '' at Westminster Hall in London and will beatify the 19th-century theologian and educationalist Cardinal John Henry Newman at a public Mass in Coventry , England . Beatification is one step shy of sainthood . The pope 's visit comes at a time of heightened tensions between Rome and the Church of England following the Vatican 's outreach to disaffected Anglicans last year . The head of the Church of England , Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams , said the visit would be an opportunity to `` cement ties '' between the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian churches in the United Kingdom . `` I look forward particularly to welcoming Pope Benedict to Lambeth Palace on behalf of the Church of England , '' Williams said in a statement , referring to the archbishop 's official London residence . Williams met Benedict in Rome in November , not long after the Vatican said it had worked out a way for dissatisfied Anglicans to switch allegiance en masse to Rome . Some observers said the move will shatter more than 40 years of efforts to reconcile the Catholic and Anglican churches . The process will enable groups of Anglicans to become Catholic and recognize the pope as their leader , yet have parishes that retain Anglican rites , Vatican officials said . The move comes some 450 years after King Henry VIII broke from Rome and created the Church of England , forerunner of the Anglican Communion . Williams was said to have been surprised by the move , which critics described as an end run around a long-established Catholic-Anglican dialogue . Catholic and Anglican theology and rites are broadly similar , but Anglicans have long allowed priests to marry and have children . In recent decades , the Anglican Communion has allowed women to become priests . The Episcopal Church -- the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion -- has ordained openly gay bishops . Those developments have caused controversy within the communion , with more conservative parishes setting up alternative structures of authority . There are about 77 million Anglicans worldwide and about 1.1 billion Roman Catholics .
Pope Benedict XVI will visit England and Scotland from September 16 - 19 . It will be the first official visit to the United Kingdom by a pontiff . Vatican withdrew from accusations it did not do enough to stop child abuse by priests .