Pope Week 2015: Last Minute Preparations for Papal Visit

It’s the Wednesday before the pope’s visit to Philadelphia, and Pope Francis is now officially in the United States. He is visiting Washington D.C. first, and will touch down in New York City on Thursday. Saturday will see him arrive in the City of Brotherly Love.

The AMOR sculpture shown as it was on display in Washington D.C.

Visitors from all around the world have begun to show up in Philadelphia. A Columbus Dispatch story focused on the media presence for the papal visit mentioned the multitude of languages being spoken at restaurants around town as visitors throng in. Many visitors are from Zimbabwe and Uruguay, with additional lots of tourists from Argentina, the pope’s country of origin.

Meanwhile, a sculpture on loan from Indiana has showed up on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The sculpture is of the word “amor,” the Spanish word for love. It mirrors the immensely popular “love” sculpture in JFK Plaza, and is meant to celebrate the pope’s Spanish heritage. The sculpture was created in Indiana in celebration of changing demographics, and now it will spend time in Philly for the World Meeting of Families.

Now there’s an additional incentive for area Catholics to attend the World Meeting of Families. Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia of the Pontifical Council for the Family announced to the crowd at the opening ceremonies on Tuesday that their attendance at the festival granted them a plenary indulgence. Not down with your Catholic lingo? A plenary indulgence means that believers are not required to go through with the “temporal punishments” required to amend for sins once they are forgiven.