Jumbotrons Will Bring Pope Francis Closer to the Crowds

With millions of people expected to flood Philadelphia when Pope Francis comes to town on the weekend of September 26 – 27, it’s safe to say that few people will actually be getting up close and personal with the pontiff. Ever been to a big stadium concert where the main attraction is nothing more than a tiny, moving blip on the stage? That’s about what you could expect from something like the mass being held on the Ben Franklin Parkway. Luckily, city officials are stepping in to make sure that everyone gets an up-close look at all the papal action.

Giant screens will give you a good look at the papal festivities from all around the city.

The city will be situating some 40 Jumbotrons, or giant elevated screens, around the city so that people can catch a glimpse of the pope during key points in his visit. Donna Farrell, executive director of the World Meeting of Families, said that the screens would begin projecting papal-related programming at 6am on Saturday the 26th. The screens will be strategically situated, she reports, “from the Festival of Families stage, which is also the papal altar on Eakins Oval, to City Hall’s porticos, to south and north Broad Streets.”

The screens are intended for those who either cannot get close to the festivities going on related to the pope, or else those who don’t want to deal with the hassle of security screening at the gates of the Francis Festival Grounds. The screens will broadcast the pope’s arrival Saturday morning at Philadelphia International, his talk outside Independence Hall Saturday afternoon, his appearance at the Festival of Families on the Ben Franklin Parkway Saturday evening and the open-air Mass on the Parkway Sunday afternoon. There will be other programming and entertainment shown on the screens over the weekend in between events, said Farrell.