Some UI students will take a pilgrimage to see Pope Francis in Philadelphia this weekend

By Katelyn Weisbrod
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A pope hasn’t visited Iowa in more than 35 years, but that is not going to stop a group of University of Iowa students from seeing him through the Popemobile glass.

Iowa City resident Michael Bayer has secured 55 tickets to attend Pope Francis’ Mass on Sept. 27 in Philadelphia.

Bayer, the director of outreach and education at the Newman Catholic Student Center, will bring 50 UI students and four staff members to Philadelphia for the rare opportunity to see the pope.

“When it was announced last spring that the pope would come to the United States, I began making arrangements from our group to go,” Bayer said. “We’ve been planning since last April. I called around to see if anyone could accommodate us, and we booked a bus.”

Francis is visiting the United States for the first time this week. The last pope to visit the United States was Pope Benedict XVI in 2008, and the last pope to come to Iowa was Pope John Paul II in 1979.

Francis began his visit Tuesday in Washington, D.C., where he spent time with President Obama; he will meet with Congress this morning.

Francis will arrive in New York City Thursday evening before arriving in Philadelphia on Saturday, where the UI students will attend his final Mass of the trip at 4 p.m. Sept. 27 on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Most of the pope’s events require tickets, but the Philadelphia Mass on Sunday was supposed to be open to the public. On Sept. 3, however, the event organizers announced that admission on the Parkway would require a ticket, and the tickets would be distributed to select parishes, most of which are in the Philadelphia area.

Bayer had already organized the trip when this announcement was made. The group had their tickets for the 18-hour bus ride, their train tickets that they won through a lottery, and they had arrangements to sleep on air mattresses in a Pennsylvania church and to shower at a local high school.

They still planned to go on the trip, but they had almost no hope of seeing the pope up close.

“We were going to go regardless if we hadn’t gotten tickets. There are going to be more than 1 million people there without tickets,” Bayer said. “It’s similar to being at a football tailgate but not being in the stadium.”

Bayer criticized the ticket requirement in his Washington Post religion column. He also expressed his concerns on social media. A parish in the Philadelphia area noticed Bayer and gave him 55 of the parish’s tickets.

Now that things have worked out for the group, the members look forward to the spiritual experience.

“[Francis] is a global figure, so when he talks about issues, it’s always with a global perspective, but here in the United States he’s begun to tailor his message to a United States audience and the issues we’re dealing with as a society, like immigration, climate change, and caring for the poor,” said Bayer. “I think our students will take those things away and put them into practice at Iowa.”

UI senior Caitlyn Hagarty said she is looking forward to taking a break from the struggles of her college life for this pilgrimage.

“I’m anticipating some serious spiritual remaking. The energy with all those people is going to be enough to awaken some spiritual growth in our group,” Hagarty said. “I think the energy throughout the whole trip will be enough to inspire me.”

Most of the people going on this trip have never seen the pope before.

“I’ve learned so much from the way he shares his faith with all of us, so being there to hear him address the crowd will be inspiring,” UI graduate student Samantha Lange said. “I don’t know what to expect, but I know it’s going to be very powerful.”

The group mostly relied on fundraising and donations to pay for expenses.

“Some of the people who made this trip possible are unknown to us. I would just love to be able to thank them,” Lange said. “We’re overjoyed and humble for all the generosity given. This is going to be a life-changing trip. I’ll always be thankful for that generosity.”