A look back at the Pope’s 2015 visit to Philadelphia
The pope's 2015 visit to Philly was part of a six-day trip to the United States.
A day before his death on Monday, Pope Francis blessed thousands of people on Easter Sunday in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. But a decade ago, he greeted 800,000 parishioners and blessed at least a dozen babies in Philadelphia and touched down to the Rocky theme.
It was part of his historic six-day visit to the United States in September 2015, hosted by the World Meeting of Families Congress. The pope spent two days in Philly, a stint that was considered one of the largest events ever hosted in the city.
While here, he urged parishioners on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to be kinder to one another, preached mercy for immigrants, rehabilitation for prisoners, and blessed babies thrust into his embrace.
“I think life goes on and it’s up to us to have a more consistent and careful response to the message of the Holy Father,” Father Gerald Dennis Gill, a pastor at the Cathedral Basilica of SS Peter and Paul, reflected a year after Francis’ visit. “The impact has been very personal — best seen in the hearts and lives of those who met him.”
At Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of SS Peter and Paul, the pope said the Philadelphia church’s history focused on breaking down walls.
He invoked the mission of Philadelphia’s own St. Katharine Drexel.
“Most of you know the story of Saint Katharine Drexel, one of the great saints raised up by this local Church,” he said. “When she spoke to Pope Leo XIII of the needs of the missions, the pope — he was a very wise pope! — asked her pointedly: ‘What about you? What are you going to do?’ Those words changed Katharine’s life.”
Pope Francis also spoke at Independence Mall about religious and immigration freedom.
Residents who got to share intimate moments with the pope at the time included a 10-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, a 15-year-old singer, a city prison inmate, and local community activists.