National Catholic Reporter  The Independent News Source  Vatican
ambassador to U.S. talks of coming papal trip  Editor's Note:
Just as today's column was being posted, John Allen filed the
following report on his daily news journal: Vatican fence-
mending campaign with Jews picks up steam.  * * * *  I was in
Washington, D.C., this week for a Tuesday luncheon sponsored by
the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. George Weigel and I
had been invited by Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum, to
brief reporters on Pope Benedict XVI's April 15-20 visit to the
United States. As Weigel put it, he was there to offer an
"op/ed" perspective, with emphasis on the pope and Islam, while
I tried to fill the "news hole" with a broad overview.  A
transcript of that session can be found on the Pew Forum Web
site at  Later Tuesday afternoon, I ventured a couple miles down
Massachusetts Avenue to visit the Apostolic Nunciature, the
embassy of the Holy See to the United States, for an interview
with the pope's top man in America