Pope takes off for Philadelphia

He found a city practically under lockdown, with blocked-off streets and checkpoints manned by police, National Guardsmen and border agents.

The 78-year-old pontiff headed straight to mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in a city under security lockdown for his arrival.

Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where Francis will hold Mass for an anticipated 1.5 million people tomorrow has been deemed a top secure zone.

After arriving at the Philadelphia airport, the pontiff ordered his vehicle to stop so he could get out and kiss a severely disabled child in a wheelchair.

Pope Francis, a day after addressing the United Nations in New York, travelled to Philadelphia, the birthplace of American independence, to promote the issue of religious freedom on the penultimate day of his first visit to the United States.

Francis spoke Saturday to close out the World Meeting of Families, a Vatican-sponsored conference and festival for more than 18,000 people from around the world, in Philadelphia.

The reason for this big party, and the pope’s visit to the US, is thanks in part to the World Meeting of Families. He’ll address crowds from a lectern that President Abraham Lincoln used to deliver the Gettysburg Address.

In his message to New Yorkers, the Pope remarked that the faithful should be aware of the love of God and “contemplate his living presence in the midst of life, in the midst of the city”.

The pope will visit Independence Mall in the afternoon; and attend the Festival of Families, a celebration of intercultural families from around the world.

In his homily during a Mass at the cathedral, Francis saluted priests, nuns and other Catholics for reaching out to the “peripheries” of society to help the downtrodden, and called for women and young people to play a major role in bolstering the church.

Saturday morning, a huge area of downtown Philadelphia was closed to traffic and an eight-foot tall mesh fence, concrete barriers and TSA agents with airport screening systems were put in place to comply with Secret Service directives.

The pope is widely expected to talk privately with abuse victims this weekend.

Lina Blanco, 55, came to Philadelphia on Friday night from Miami.

The visit is also shaping up as one of the most interesting ecclesial pairings of the pope’s trip.

Earlier, Pope Francis flew over New York’s Statue of Liberty and the former immigration station of Ellis Island aboard a helicopter on Saturday, in an unscheduled detour that gave him nostalgia for his home town Buenos Aires.

“I like to use geometry here”, he said, looking up from his notes in a tell-tale sign that his speech was about to get real.

“I think this is a pope that, he puts a good face on the Catholic Church”, Towalski said. He recently wrote in the archdiocese newspaper that abortion is “a uniquely wicked act” that can not be seen as one sin among many. The 73-year-old said she’ll also present Francis with a gift: a box set of sermons by her father, civil rights activist and preacher C.L. Franklin.