U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy greets Pope John Paul II, as Rosalyn Carter, wife U.S. President Jimmy Carter, looks on, during the pope’s arrival in Boston in 1979. Kennedy, who died at his Cape Cod, Mass., home late Aug. 25, was a major figure in the Democratic Party who took the helm of one of America’s most fabled Catholic political families after two older brothers were assassinated. He was 77. (CNS file photo) (Aug. 26, 2009) See OBIT-KENNEDY Aug. 26, 2009.