Will Pope Francis come to Philadelphia in September 2015?

It looks more and more likely, as Archbishop Charles Chaput reportedly told American Indians in North Dakota on Thursday that “Pope Francis has told me that he is coming.”

The Catholic News Service reported the archbishop mentioned the pope’s pending visit during his homily at the Tekakwitha Conference in Fargo.

Chaput — whose ancestors include American Indians — told the Fargo conference, “the pope will be with us the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of that week,” according to the CNS report of the event in the Diocese of Trenton online newspaper, The Monitor, Friday morning.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia cautioned on Friday it has not received an official confirmation from the Vatican that the pope will attend the World Meeting of Families in the city Sept. 22-27, 2015. The CNS updated its report to reflect that concern but the story was removed from the Monitor post on the Trenton diocesan website.

Archdiocesan spokesman Ken Gavin said he had a “very strange and hectic day” Friday as the archbishop’s comments became public.

“I was not in Fargo, so I can’t say he was misquoted. He has said things like that before. He’s said similar things, but every time, said we still were waiting for official confirmation from the Vatican … We’re extremely confident that he will be here.”

Gavin said the archdiocese won’t make an official announcement until it hears officially from the Vatican, most likely about six months before the event.

But with the Trenton newspaper reporting the archbishop’s comments, Trenton Bishop David O’Connell issued a statement Friday saying he was happy to learn the pope was coming to Philadelphia and that the Diocese of Trenton offered its support to Archbishop Chaput and Philadelphia in hosting the visit.

Later, the Trenton Diocese issued a second statement saying Bishop O’Connell was delighted to learn the pope had expressed his intention to attend the World Meeting of Families. That statement was later rescinded and the CNS report was taken off the Monitor website.

Gavin said if the Pope cannot attend, the World Meeting of Families still would attract tens of thousands of people to the conference.

“If the Holy Father is with us, we expect between 1 million to 2 million people for the papal Mass,” Gavin said.

The exact location and date for the Mass have not been confirmed.

For several months, the Philadelphia archdiocese has been preparing for the event.

“We’ve been planning — we, the city, the state and federal government ... We have planned and will continue to plan as if the Holy Father is coming,” Gavin said.

This September, the archdiocese plans to announce how individual parishes and families can join in the preparations and participate in the World Meeting of Families.

At the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in New Britain Township, the Rev. Rafal Walczyk said he was looking forward to the pope’s visit if he does come. “Of course, I would be more than happy,” he said.

According to CNS, Federico Lombardi, a Jesuit priest and Vatican spokesman, said the pope has expressed “his willingness to participate in the World Meeting of Families” in Philadelphia and has received invitations to visit other American cities, including New York and Washington, as well as the United Nations.