Mayor Nutter Dubs Papal Visit a Success

Michael Nutter, the mayor of Philadelphia, held a “post-game” press conference discussing the monumental event that was the pope’s visit over the weekend. In the mayor’s eyes, the visit was a complete success. He spoke emotionally about how much the event meant to him and his family, as well as the thousands of faithful who thronged the city to get close to the pontiff. He called it a “wonderful, joyous, and spiritual experience.”

Mayor Nutter cited journalists for “scaring” people away from Philadelphia during the papal event, but generally viewed the visit as a success.

Despite the congratulatory high-fiving going on among city officials, there can be no doubt that the weekend wasn’t without issues. There were plenty of public complaints from attendees waiting for hours in security lines. Local businesses that say they were promised plenty of traffic complained that business was only lackluster. There were intense traffic and security restrictions put in place for the pope’s visit. Concrete barricades lined the streets, and major thoroughfares were shut down to cars so that pedestrians could get around more easily. Leading up to the event, there were those who criticized the city’s security plans as overly restrictive.

To what extend did the overwhelming security deter locals and visitors? It’s too early to say. The pope’s mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway was expected to draw a million pilgrims. Numbers haven’t been released on how many people actually showed up. Yet, it was known that over a thousand of the city’s 11,200 hotel rooms remained unfilled over the weekend, and that train ridership was lower than what was initially anticipated.

It is clear that the pope’s visit was intensely meaningful to those who showed up to see him. And perhaps that is enough.