The Daily Blog is going to ring out 2008 by remembering the year’s most exciting event for Catholic Americans: Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United States in April.

We’re not going to try to recap the entire eventful papal trip in this brief post. However, those who want to retrace in detail the Pope’s historic steps on American soil should link here to the words and images we provided through our Pope2008.com website. (Here’s the April archive.)

The Register’s editorial names this the Year of Benedict, not Obama.

All of the Register’s editorial staffers, except for me, covered one or more of the Holy Father’s U.S. appearances in person for both our print and online versions. And heading our coverage team was our papal point man extraordinaire, the indefatigable Tim Drake, who also journeyed Down Under to cover Benedict’s visit to Australia and other World Youth Day festivities.

You might like to check out Pope2008.com’s coverage of that trip too, before saying goodbye to the old year and greeting 2009. And be sure to read Tim’s reflections on the significance of the papal trips here, in the Register’s current print issue.

Happy New Year to all our readers, from the Daily Blog and all of the Register’s editorial staff!

— Tom McFeely