Two weeks from now our country will be welcoming the most popular man in Vatican City. When Pope Francis arrives at his various stops in New York, Washington DC and Philadelphia, there will be overwhelming crowds of people to greet him. There will also be chaos and logistical insanity. Never in our history has security and planning been so intense; our own President doesn’t get this type of treatment, nor did Elvis or the Beatles.
Whole neighborhoods in Philadelphia will be shut down and cleared of vehicles while travel will be rerouted around the center of the city as if a quarantine were in place. Special passes for access to the areas closest to the pope’s outdoor events have been scalped and gone from being free to costing thousands of dollars online. Gift shops are putting out pontifical souvenirs of all sorts (I was just in Philly this afternoon and saw folks filing into a theatre toting clear bags with pope dolls in them).
Where will I be? Not walking across the Ben Franklin Bridge, which will be closed to vehicular traffic. Not in the city, either. I’d rather watch on television or see the events later on the news. Philadelphia will be a combination of the Fourth of July, Woodstock and the second coming all at once when he visits on September 26-27. They don’t even expect the city to return to anything approaching normal until Monday afternoon. I’m glad I don’t work in the city and don’t have anything to do there that weekend. I’ll leave that to braver people than I.
If you like crowds and mayhem, let me know how it went.
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