PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Hours before the pope’s visit to Independence Mall, people have been steadily streaming along barricades toward the entrances to the event.
There were nuns in habits, children in strollers, visitors in lanyards, a little boy in suit and tie, middle-aged women in shirts that read: “This girl loves Pope Francis.” They walked past metal fencing with signs noting that drones are prohibited, where every so many feet orange-clad volunteers stand giving directions.
Volunteers and siblings Justin and Maryrose Owens arrived at their corner around 6:30 a.m., and said they have seen a steady stream of people since then. Pope Francis himself is scheduled to visit at 4:45 p.m.
“Everybody is in a very good mood,” he said. …
As for the more recent history of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Pope Francis did not speak of the crisis of sexual abuse here. Grand jury reports in 2005 and 2011 revealed numerous cases of abusive priests whose superiors knew of their offenses but kept them in ministry. A priest in the archdiocese’s hierarchy is behind bars for his conviction for keeping a known abuser in a parish setting where he could and did molest again.
Francis has made only brief references to the abuse scandals in the church during his United States visit, telling bishops they had made great progress in reforming their responses and commending priests for enduring “the shame of some of your brothers who harmed and scandalized the Church in the most vulnerable of her members.”
Bishops have said they expect Francis, like Pope Benedict XVI before him, will meet privately with sexual-abuse survivors before the end of his trip on Sunday.
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