The red carpet was out on May 31, 1982, in preparation for the arrival of Pope John Paul II at Turnhouse Airport.
His Holiness had touched down in Great Britain three days earlier, visiting London, Liverpool, Manchester and York before heading north of the border.
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In Edinburgh, throngs of people lined the procession route as the Vatican’s iconic popemobile made its way to Murrayfield Stadium where a youth rally of 45,000 witnessed the Pope deliver an address.
“Thank you for such warm words of welcome,” the Pope told the mostly young crowd.
“I am happy that my first contact is with you, the pride of your beloved country and the promise of its bright future.”
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Later that day, the Pope joined a gathering of priests and religious leaders at St Mary’s Cathedral and waved to crowds of locals cramming both sides of Princes Street in scorching heat. Police kept the crowds back as the popemobile was escorted up the Mound.
The Pope also visited St Joseph’s Hospital in Rosewell, where he greeted patients, staff and the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, and addressed the Scottish Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
All in all, it was a highly-memorable day for all who witnessed it.
Recalling the Pope’s historic visit, Sylvia Cameron, 73, told Edinburgh Live: “Everything about that day to me is so vivid. It was an absolute privilege to witness the Pope going by in his popemobile along Princes Street.
“Even now, 40 years on, I get quite teary thinking about it.”
The following day, Pope John Paul II headed west to Glasgow, where the reception was even greater.
In what remains the largest ever official gathering of people witnessed in Scotland, a whopping 300,000 people turned out at Bellahouston Park to attend a mass delivered by the Pope.
Symbolic gifts were presented to the Pope during the service, including a pipe banner with the Pope’s coat of arms, a piece of Caithness glass, a firkin of whisky and a Scotland football shirt.
He told worshippers "as believers, we are constantly exposed to pressures by modern society which would compel us to conform to the standards of this secular age, substitute new proprieties, restrict our aspirations at risk of compromising our Christian conscience."
We can only imagine His Holiness wearing his new Scotland jersey back in the Vatican a few weeks later to celebrate David Narey’s toe-poke against Brazil in the World Cup.
