PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Post
By Karen Heller and , Frances Stead Sellers and Joe Heim September 26
PHILADELPHIA — America’s birthplace of liberty has opened its arms for Pope Francis’s weekend visit by closing almost everything.
The 78-year-old pontiff is scheduled to arrive at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Philadelphia International Airport, the final leg of his first visit to the United States. Over two days, he’ll celebrate two Masses, deliver a speech on religious liberty at Independence Hall, participate in two papal parades, and be serenaded by Aretha Franklin and Andrea Bocelli at a festival to cap the church’s World Meeting of Families, which began Tuesday.
On Saturday morning, with a huge swath of the city closed to traffic, an eerie quiet created a vague post-apocalyptic sense. On normally beeping, bustling Chestnut street the only audible sound was the hum of a cranky air conditioner and the quiet slap of a runner’s feet on the pavement.
Philadelphians who griped over the many inconveniences of hosting Francis have fled the city or settled in to watch the scenes unfolding on their doorsteps from the comfort of their sofas. On Saturday morning, the city’s streets began to swell with a chorus of more positive voices. Popetimism, some are calling it.
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