PHILADELPHIA The faithful traveled from as far as Argentina and as near as Lansdowne on Sunday to celebrate Mass with a pope who many feel brings a message of humility, redemption and hope.
The Miller family from Media, Pa., sat atop a blue blanket along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, similar to how they did Saturday as they stood for six hours with a wish to catch a glimpse of the pontiff.
On Sunday, the three girls — Ellie, 11, Greta, 10, and Penny, 6 — brought three crucifixes with them just in case Pope Francis came close enough to bless them.
“How can you not come?” their mother, Emily, asked.
She explained it was important to her family as members of St. Mary Magdalen Church, where they are parishioners and their children attend school.
Miller felt all the effort in getting close to the pope was worth it.
“It was pretty special being able to see him this close, especially after this whole week, talking to congress and the United Nations and all these important things,” she said.
Yet, Miller was equally grateful for all those she met in that time.
“We met all of these people from different places, and here we are celebrating,” she said. “Everywhere you go, you speak sort of the same language. It was fun, it was nice.”
Attendees stood in lines for hours to get through metal detectors.
The 23-member group from Encuentro Mundial de las Familias in Chaco, Argentina, were proud to be among them.
Romina Zanaha brought her 11-year-old son, Laureano, and her 7-year-old daughter, Giuliana, after meeting with her friends every other week for a year to plan her visit.
“It’s a great joyfulness for having Pope Francis as a pope because he’s such a humble person who walked the streets of Argentina,” she said. “He was with the people, he moved with the people, he was on the streets with the people …. And he would go to very poor areas in Argentina where people were very, very poor, and he would do this every day.”
When asked what she hoped to take away from this experience, Zanaha paused.
“To be able to see him, to be able to have a moment of peace and to also be able to transmit that to all those who were not able to come,” she said. “A lot of people were unable to come.”
Argentinian native Maria Laura Scipioni of Easton, Pa., arrived in the city with her friend, Angela Alcirar, who was housing six travelers from Argentina.
“This is special,” she said. “First, the pope is Argentinian and (secondly) he is a wonderful, lovely … person. He’s very kind, he’s very lovely. He likes the poor people. He went to villages of the very, very poor people.”
And, besides, he drinks a tea known as maté, Scipioni said. “It’s special for us,” she said of the beverage. “We drink it together as a family, as a group, as a friend.”
Alcirar smiled, “We have it in the car right now.”
The two spoke of what it means to have a pope from South America.
“Oh!” Alcirar said. “This is the best! My God, this is the best! For Hispanic people, this is the best.”
Scipioni added, “It’s like our pope, an American pope. It’s the first pope from America.”
Pope Francis’ appeal is broad.
Melissa Englund, of Lansdowne, had traveled to Rome in 1996 and 2001 but missed a chance to see Pope John Paul II each time. On Sunday with her father, Charles, who is from Kansas City, Mo. and her sister, Terry Nicholas, from Ozark, Mo., she got her opportunity.
“I was standing here, and I was waving and waving and waving … having the camera ready,” she said. “Then, all of a sudden, it’s like, ‘He’s here!’”
Englund shared what she thought was so unique about Pope Francis.
“I think that it’s wonderful to be here seeing the revitalization that he’s making with the church,” he said. “I think he’s really trying to get back to what the Church really means.”
For her, the essence of Catholicism is “being with all the other people who believe and do good works.”
Her sister the crowds and the pontiff’s leadership rejuvenating.
“I just think to be surrounded by so many people who are believers, it just puts it to new light,” Nichols said. “It’s redirecting our compass. I think our compass has gone askew, and I think Pope Francis is helping realign that compass to the direction it’s supposed to go.”