Pope Diaries: The Fury To See Francis

5:38 p.m.

Along Fairmount Avenue near Eastern State Penitentiary dozens of people suddenly burst onto the street. A black SUV was driving by, flanked by two police vehicles.

Fairmount was closed to traffic throughout the weekend, and cement blockades cut off each intersection. The crowds pressed against the railings that had been erected along the sidewalk.

“It’s the Pope!” someone shouted from the crowd.

“Almost,” said a woman standing nearby. “It’s Mark Wahlberg.”

4:49 p.m.

On the corner of Spring Garden and 19th street the crowd had stilled before a massive screen that would broadcast Pope Francis’ speech at Independence National Park.

Crowds marched past waving blue flags from the World Meeting of Families. A few groups chanted something inscrutable in Latin.

As Francis appeared on the screen at 4:45, cheers and shouts went up from the crowd. The speech began in Spanish, with subtitles scrawled across the bottom of the screen. The crowd turned their cameras back and forth between the policemen and National Guard lining the street to the screen. In turn, the policemen took pictures of the screen.

Dozens of port-a-potties were lined up along the sidewalks on Spring Garden and as people exited, vendors burdened down by armfuls of white t-shirts approached them.

“You want to buy a Pope t-shirt?”

Another wave of vendors passed by beneath the screen, passing before the crowd and then turning down the empty side of Spring Garden waving shirts like a toreador’s cape.

A National Guard jeep drives along West River Drive Saturday afternoon.

3:32 p.m.

As Papal pilgrims proudly progressed to Independence National Park for the Pope’s eagerly anticipated speech on immigration reform Saturday afternoon, much of the rest of the city was left empty.

In Manayunk, where the Manayunk Brewing Company’s ”Papal Pleasure” ale had sold out by noon, Main Street was completely devoid of traffic.

In Fairmount, despite military checkpoints being “everywhere,” according to local residents, the streets were quiet.

3:10 p.m.

During the papal mass Saturday morning, the sound of thousands of people praying could be heard for blocks across the city.

“I must say, it’s amazing,” said one resident from her porch, who admitted she had been frustrated at the prospect of delays due to the papal visit.

Some visitors set up impromptu worship stations on the sidewalk in the city, even blocks away from where mass was held at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. They knelt or stood with their heads bowed and hands folded, the spires of the ancient Cathedral visible between buildings in the distance.

2:32 p.m.

Every mile or so along the Schuylkill River, tents were set up with a pair of National Guard soldiers. There were tables with water, and some had cookies.

“The crowds really were not huge,” said one cyclist who stopped to talk to the soldiers. He said he had been into the city early in the morning and tried to see Pope Francis in center city.

As he spoke, a Montgomery County Public Safety truck drove by along the narrow trail. Similar trucks drove along the path every few miles, checking in with the bikers and the walkers and the soldiers at the rest stations.

“Everyone thought I was crazy (coming here),” said the cyclist. But it’s just another nice day.”

2:02 p.m.

Dried orange eaves were blowing across the Schuylkill River Trail, and the intermittent sound of bike tires slicing over their dried husks was the only sound for miles.

By late morning and through the early afternoon hours, from Manayunk to Conshohocken to Norristown, the path staffed by emergency officials and lined with emergency port-a-potties and water stations was largely empty.

Cyclists and walkers passed in both directions as on any weekend day. Long sections of the trail were empty and silent.

A flashing sign reading “path to Philadelphia” stood slightly skewed on the side of the trail, as if abandoned there.

In Norristown, the parking lots around the transportation center were almost entirely empty. Most visitors that departed from the station had heeded the warnings of officials who warned of apocalyptic traffic.

Traffic on Route 202 was clear, as was 422, from mid-morning through the early afternoon in Montgomery County.

***

9:45 a.m.

The streets of Philadelphia were empty as if before a massive road race.

On TV screens and on radios and cellphones around the city, the gathered masses watched Pope Francis’ progress up to the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.

Miles away, crowds of the most determined, or the elect, pressed tightly along sidewalks to watch Pope Francis exit his vehicle onto the streets in person.

The crowd roared as Francis came out onto the street and greeted dignitaries at the foot of the Basilica. A renewed roar went up when he turned and faced the masses. He raised one arm and passed it slowly back and forth across his face.

As far away as Jefferson station there was a steady push toward center city. Most of the crowd moved in one direction, Pope-wise.

Costumes ran the gamut of religious and comical. A group of young adults wore Halloweenish robes with ‘Pope Squad’ in block letters on the back.

“This is just nuts,” said a man with a beard, sitting on a towel, covering himself with another towel, at the Rite Aid near 10th and Market. Passerby were stepping on his towel. “This is just the craziest.”

He was not asking for money, but someone reached down and handed him change.

***

The Pope’s full itinerary for his weekend in Philadelphia below.

Saturday, Sept. 26

• 8:40 a.m: Departure John F. Kennedy International Airport
  
• 9:39 a.m. Arrive at Philadelphia International Airport
• 10:30 a.m.: Mass at Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, a historic church that has stood since 1864. It is the largest brownstone structure in Philadelphia. (This mass is closed to the public.) Francis will then proceed to Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, where he will meet with bishops at the chapel there. (This event is also closed to the public.)
• 4:45 p.m.: Speech on religious freedom and immigration at Independence National Historical Park in Center City Philadelphia. (During the speech, ticket holders will be the only people permitted to go beyond designated security checkpoints. Click here to see the map.)
• 7:30 p.m. Appearance at the Festival of Families on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Sunday, Sept. 27

• 9:15 a.m.: Meeting with the bishops at the Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary
• 11 a.m.: Francis will visit prisoners at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in North Philadelphia. Prisoners there have already prepared a special chair for Francis as a gift.
• 4 p.m.: The Pope will return to the Parkway to say the concluding mass for the 2015 World Meeting of Families. (Ticket holders will be the only people permitted to go beyond designated security checkpoints. Click here to see the map.)
• 8 p.m.: Return to Rome