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FOXBORO - One of the high points during the Rev. Jason Makos' five years of theological study in Rome occurred in April 2005.

As he and thousands of others watched from St. Peter's Square, white smoke wafted from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, signaling that "the cardinals, with the Holy Spirit, had chosen a new leader for the Catholic Church," Makos said.

Now, Makos, who came to St. Mary's Church in Foxboro as associate pastor the year after Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, has been picked to join the pope Sunday on the altar at Yankee Stadium.

Makos, 31, will be one of 20 priests from the Archdiocese of Boston invited to concelebrate the Mass on the last afternoon of the pope's six-day visit to the United States.

"That's really an honor. That's not an invitation you get every day of the week," St. Mary's pastor Stephen J. Madden said. Makos received a call Monday from the archdiocese telling him that Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley had received tickets for concelebration, and asked if Makos wanted that honor.

Makos will offer the Mass with the pope, along with cardinals and bishops of the United States. He was subsequently asked to also help distribute communion.

While excited to have been so chosen, Makos credits the spiritual energy of the Foxboro parish.

"It probably came about because Foxboro has such a large number of pilgrims going down to New York. It's more a testament to them, just because they are so excited," he said.

More than 50 worshippers from St. Mary's have landed the much-sought tickets, making Foxboro one of the best-represented parishes in the archdiocese attending the papal Mass, Makos said he was told.

The group will include 22 members of Life Teen, the church youth program for which Makos serves as spiritual advisor.

The priest requisitioned the tickets for the teens.

"I feel very fortunate. It's part of history, really," said Christopher Waggett of Ridgewood Path, a junior at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro who will turn 17 on Saturday.

He will attend with his parents, Fred Waggett Jr. and Ann Waggett and his brother Fred III, 22, as well as with the others taking the trip his father helped the priest to organize. Two buses will be leaving St. Mary's Church about 6:30 a.m. Sunday and returning that night.

"As a Christian it's important to me," Ann Waggett said. "It brings out Christian values. It's not on a foreign shore. When a pope comes here, he bring everything to us." In August 2005, a group of Life Teen members from St. Mary's, including her husband and older son, traveled to Germany for 11 days and attended the World Youth Day, a Mass and adoration with Pope Benedict.

She and Christopher were unable to go. "I felt like I missed out, that I lost out," Ann Waggett said.

There is an element of mystique, and Makos can appreciate that.

While in Rome, he attended a number of Masses given by Pope John Paul II, stood within arms reach of John Paul on one occasion, and was present for his funeral, as well as for the election of Benedict XVI.

"I was really blessed to be there for these monumental events that happened in the Catholic Church," he said.

Makos said he is pleased so many Foxboro Catholics will have the opportunity to worship with the pope.

The archdiocese received 3,000 tickets.

"When we first heard that these tickets were going to be available, we all got excited and we all put in our names as quickly as possible in hopes that we could get these tickets," he said.