The showpiece at last year's event was the reconstructed 18 meter-long "popemobile" of Pope John Paul II.

CNN: May 25, 2012 -- Updated 0815 GMT (1615 HKT)

With his resignation, Pope Benedict has chosen a starkly different path than his predecessor, John Paul II, whose long struggle with Parkinson's disease played out before eyes of the world before his death in 2005.

WSJ: Pope Benedict XVI to Resign

It lacked the intense, heightened atmosphere that surrounded the last election in 2005, when the long-drawn-out agony of John Paul II had suffused the Catholic world in grief and gratitude.

WSJ: Daniel Johnson: A New Pope on a Pilgrim's Path

In 1979, Pope John Paul II concluded his week-long tour of the United States with a Mass on the Washington Mall.

CNN: Monday,

Last November, the governor accompanied long-serving bank staff to an audience with Pope John Paul II.

ECONOMIST: Fazio��s fables

John Zenzel, a World War II Navy veteran, has been waiting "a long time" to vote for Clinton.

CNN: Behind the Scenes: Small-town voters talk economic pain, politics