Estimated 860,000 jam Parkway for pope's message of love

A MASSIVE throng of pilgrims who flocked to Philadelphia from across the nation and the world packed every inch of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway yesterday to hear Pope Francis end his historic, sometimes frenetic, U.S. tour with a simple and moving message of love.

"Love is shown by little things, by attention to small, daily signs which make us feel at home," the 78-year-old Argentine pontiff said in his native Spanish, delivering a modest yet eloquent homily to a crowd that stretched from the pulpit in front of Eakins Oval toward City Hall, snaking down every side street. "Faith grows when it is lived and shaped by love."

A widely circulated but unofficial estimate placed the crowd at 860,000 - but even that big number doesn't do justice to the once-in-a-lifetime experience for the thousands who came by train, by bus and on foot. They surged slowly throughout a charcoal-gray, windswept afternoon toward clogged security checkpoints - singing spiritual songs and praying for at least a glimpse of the first man from the Americas to lead the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

The huge turnout for the final act of Francis' six-day whirlwind tour, and its only large open-air Mass, tested the elaborate security measures that Philadelphians had debated for months, and tried the patience of the pilgrims.

Cindee Case and Jennifer Namsick, sisters who attend different churches in northeast Ohio, had tickets for the inner circle of the Mass, but gave up after three hours in the line and watched on a screen at the Comcast Center.

"I guess we shouldn't have dillydallied," Case said, but the sisters also were miffed that they hadn't seen enough entry points where Mass attendees passed through Secret Service magnetometers to reach the parkway.

Those who did make it close to the towering, arched, white-and-gold stage with its large crucifix said they were touched by the words of Francis - who in little more than two years has shaken up his church and become a global icon for his ministry to the poor, criticisms of unfettered capitalism and a shift away from more-divisive social issues.

Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Beth Ferreira clutched her 7-month-old son, Michael, afterward. "I'm about to cry," she said, as the baby wriggled in her arms. "It's absolutely breathtaking. My mother and grandmother took me to see Pope John Paul II in 1979. It's amazing that I'm able to take my son and share the same memory."

"It was incredible seeing him," said Andrew Hadley, 29, of Northern Liberties, who with his girlfriend had reached the parkway just in time to snap a photo of the papal motorcade. "I was more amazed when he drove by."

The crowd heard Francis praise "the quiet things done by mothers and grandmothers, by fathers and grandfathers, by children. They are little signs of tenderness, affection and compassion - like the warm supper we look forward to at night, the early lunch awaiting someone who gets up early to go to work."

The humble homily of home and hearth - tied into the World Meeting of Families that brought thousands of Catholics to Philadelphia and prompted Francis to make his first-ever U.S. trip - stood in marked contrast to the various global and political crises the pontiff had addressed earlier.

In his whirlwind 34 hours in Philadelphia, Francis delivered a plea for open immigration policies, met with migrants at Independence Hall and spoke on justice and compassion before inmates at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Northeast Philadelphia. He celebrated a Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul and delivered a long, mostly off-the-cuff talk at a Saturday night music concert on the parkway - even making a joke about mothers-in-law at one point.

Yesterday, the pope made headlines by meeting privately with a group of five sexual-abuse victims, including several who'd been abused by clergy, and then addressing the worldwide priest-child-abuse scandal in which Philadelphia played a major role.

"It continues to overwhelm me with shame that the people who were charged with taking care of these tender ones violated that trust and caused them a profound pain," Francis, speaking in Spanish, told bishops and seminarians at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. "God weeps."

If that hadn't been enough, the pope added two unscheduled events yesterday. He toured the Mary, Undoer of Knots Grotto in front of the Center City cathedral, and met Philadelphia homeless advocate Sister Mary Scullion, who had worked with volunteers to create the unusual project of intertwined prayer cloths.

The first Jesuit pope even squeezed in a brief visit to the Jesuit-founded St. Joseph's University, where he delighted hundreds of students and staff by blessing a statue commemorating Catholic-Jewish relations that the university had just dedicated on Friday.

Earlier in the week, Francis met with President Obama, and urged action on climate change and on curbing the global arms race in a speech to a joint session of Congress - the first by a pontiff - and spoke at the United Nations in New York.

But it was yesterday's overflow Mass - which drew more than double the crowd that saw Pope John Paul II at Logan Circle in 1979 - that put an exclamation point on the papal visit that had dominated Philadelphia's civic affairs for weeks with sometimes contentious debate over security and planning.

On that front, the decision to ban cars from most of Center City, close major arteries like the Schuylkill Expressway and shutter normally busy transit stops made life in the city a surreal, almost dreamlike experience.

Among the bizarre scenes on the outskirts of what city officials first called "the traffic box," then the Francis Festival Grounds: Packs of bicycles racing the wrong way and past red lights on otherwise desolate one-way streets. A father and a son kicking a soccer ball on 16th Street at midday. A gaggle of priests in black collar tossing a Frisbee on a deserted 2nd Street.

For some - restaurant owners and other small businessmen - the bizarre dream of a traffic-free window was a nightmare, as frugal pilgrims intent on little else than a glimpse of Pope Francis streamed past their mostly empty establishments.

"It's been a slow week, to say the least," said Michael Solomonov, chef and co-owner of Zahav and partner in other restaurants. He was carrying a surfboard and said he was headed to Margate, N.J., for the day. "I think nobody knew what to expect."

But this weekend wasn't meant for life as usual. It was given over to the faithful, the pilgrims who came first from as far as South America or Europe to attend the World Meeting, then those who streamed in during the weekend on buses and on all-night drives from the American Heartland just to see the pope in person.

Emma Obert, 13, was among 167 worshippers who arrived on a bus with the Immaculate Conception congregation from Little Rock, Ark., staying two hours away in a Lancaster motel. Despite the obstacles, the group nabbed a key spot on the parkway to watch Francis cruise past in Saturday night's procession.

"I thought God was going right by me," said Emma, of North Little Rock. "I just started crying."

Dunya Sandiha, 30, drove nine hours overnight from Michigan to get to the parkway early yesterday morning, landing a prime spot near the media area for the Mass.

She hung a small handmade sign that read "HelpIraq.org" on the fence in front of her. Sandiha, a schoolteacher, works for that organization, which helps Iraqis, Christians and other religious minorities displaced by ISIS and the leftover chaos from the Iraq War.

Neither the drive nor the fact that she had to be at work today could deter her from coming to see Pope Francis. "He's my hero," she said. "He exudes peace and love."

Some locals decided to come at the last minute yesterday after hearing reports of lower-than-expected traffic for Saturday's events.

However, waves of visitors from elsewhere at times overwhelmed the system of security checkpoints. Some sections of the stalled throng broke spontaneously into songs such as "Jesu Christo, Hallelujah," while others did the Wave. Some visitors - even those with advance tickets - gave up after a couple of hours and plopped down in front of Jumbotron screens far away down on Broad Street, nowhere near the papal altar. A handful watched on TV in the backroom of the Cherry Street Tavern.

Those who did reach the parkway erupted with joy shortly after 3 p.m. as Pope Francis' motorcade made its way down the west side of Eakins Oval - with each smile, wave or mere flick of the wrist from Francis atop his trademarked Popemobile sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Bill Gillespie, 70, of Pennsburg, Pa., in the Allentown area, had a seat near the stage. The electrical contractor said the vibe on the parkway took him back to younger days.

"It's like everyone in the city is coming together. We're all friendly and there is no animosity or anger. It's just all love and hope. It's back like in the '60s, when we were like, 'peace, love and no war,' It's very nice, very spiritual," he said gazing over the masses.

Even Pope Francis, in conducting the Mass, seemed inspired by the throng. He called it evidence that "this world is tired of inventing new divisions, new forms of brokenness."

There were also echoes to the only other papal visit to Philadelphia in 1979. On the altar with Pope Francis was Deacon Bill Hickey, a married father from Delaware who was widely photographed during John Paul II's visit as a drum major with the Cardinal Dougherty Marching Unit, which performed on the parkway.

Yesterday as the Mass neared its conclusion, there was one last remarkable scene as more than 500 priests - lined from youngest to oldest so the younger priests could walk the longer distance - came off the altar to deliver Communion; more than 300 more priests and deacons left from the cathedral to go to people outside the ticketed area, as far away as Love Park.

A short time later, the presumably exhausted Francis arrived at Philadelphia International Airport, where he met Vice President Joe Biden and planners of the World Meeting of Families before taking off for the Vatican at 7:47 p.m.

His final words on the parkway still echoed. "Thank you very much for your participation and for your love for the family," adding with a smile and a slight chuckle: "And I ask you: Pray for me. Don't forget!"

- Staff writers Dan Geringer,

Joe Brandt and Ronnie Polaneczky

contributed to this report.

On Twitter: @Will_Bunch