The Pope in Philly, By Patty Janiak

My husband, Joe, and I traveled with a group led by Sister Bernarde Entress, a Mercy Sister, to Philadelphia to see our wonderful Pope Francis. We started in the morning about 9:00 AM on Friday September 25th. We departed from Irondequoit with over 40others lead by Sister Bernarde on a Covered Wagon motor coach bus. The bus made it to Binghamton then overheated so we had to change buses. We waited about 45 minutes for the new bus from Hornell. We finally arrived in Allentown, PA., that evening, where we stayed for the night at a Holiday Inn.

Sports Complex

Bright and early Saturday, about 8:30AM, we motor coached into Philadelphia. We traveled on route 76 which was completely shut down near Philadelphia except for bus traffic. We were the only ones on the road. It was very strange as this is a major road into Philadelphia. Only buses with special signs were allowed on Route 76 as the state police and local police blocked all entrances and exits. We arrived at the Philadelphia Sports Complex. Later, several hundred buses would fill the parking lot. Then we had to take a fifteen minute ride from the Sports Complex on the SEPTA subway train into the center of the city.

Security Checkpoint

All the streets in the center of Philadelphia where closed to regular traffic. Only police, dignitary buses, and ambulances were allowed. We proceeded on foot about five blocks to a security checkpoint. Security was much more stringent than at our local airport. They checked each bag by hand. Bags were limited to a small size, had bomb sniffing dogs checking peoples folding chairs, and us. Metal detectors along with hand metal detecting wands were used on everyone. We were lucky it only took about an hour to clear security. I heard that people arriving later that day waited three hours to clear security check points. 

Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in obtaining special tickets to Pope Francis’s speech on Saturday or the Mass on Sunday in Benjamin Franklin Parkway, as they were distributed online in about two minutes. Tickets to the events were available on line at specific times and dates but were distributed in a few minutes.  We heard 10,000 tickets were available for each event but we suspected they went to the local Philadelphia parishes.

Our location waiting for Pope Francis

We positioned our group near Philadelphia City Hall about noon on Saturday where there were numerous vendors for food plus portable toilet facilities to handle the large crowds.  Pope Francis was supposed to parade by City Hall in his Pope mobile around 4PM. It turned out to be about 7:15PM, after his speech at Independence Hall.

 Pope Francis driving by City Hall in his Pope Mobile blessing us. 

After the Pope Francis drove by, we positioned our group in front of a Jumbotron near City Hall to watch the entertainment provided for the Pope and the crowds. We left City Center to return to our bus around 8:30PM and arrived back in Allen Town at 11:00PM.

Sunday Mass at a Jumbotron

The next day Sunday, we tried to repeat what we did the day before but security was backed up over three blocks. Several hundred additional motor coaches were arriving from all over the United States for Pope Francis’s final Mass. The best we could do was to position our group in front of a Jumbotron outside the security area. We were at JFK Blvd. and 16^th street. The streets were packed with people watching the Mass on the Jumbotrons. Pope Francis’s Mass was Beautiful and Inspiring.

After Mass, it took us about three hours to return to our motor coach even with the SEPTA trains running non stop as the crowds were like New Year’s Eve in Times Square. We finally left Philadelphia around 9PM on Sunday and arrived home Monday morning around 3:45AM.

Sister Bernarde Entress after Mass on Sunday at JFK and 16th street- Sept 27

Sister Bernarde is wonderful and did a wonderful job planning and organizing this pilgrimage.

 It was a Wonderful Once in a Lifetime Experience!