This Easter weekend , the world lost Pope Francis after a period of ailing health. On March 23 , the Pope was released from Gemelli Hospital in Italy after battling pneumonia over 38 days.
It was 45 years ago when John Paul II graced Philadelphia. That visit was something to behold. A sitting Pope coming for the first time to the place named after the ancient Greek city of Alaşehir was tacit approval that one of America’s oldest metropolis’ — emerging from the vision of William Penn in the late 1600s — was indeed a place of global importance and shrouded in historic significance.
When Pope Francis followed in 2015 — that magical feeling found us once again. When he disembarked from his Fiat after landing for Shepard One at Philadelphia International Airport to take a moment with a boy in a wheelchair , our region immediately felt the power of his presence.
During that whirlwind weekend, people packed the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to see him speak at Independence Hall, then at the Festival of Families, and on Sunday, during the Papal Mass. He even stopped at St. Joseph’s University.
Seeing the Pope in your city isn’t just a regional event, it is an opportunity for the eyes of the world to be focused right here. Philadelphia took full advantage with a weekend that will never be forgotten. When the Pope left our region, he left behind an uplifting feeling that resonated for months after his departure.
The optics of over 850,000 people descending on Philadelphia didn’t just have an economic impact over that weekend. It also highlighted major Philadelphia landmarks — many historic — that would continue to be popular tourist attractions even after the Pontiff had left Philadelphia.
What the Pope left behind was hope—an uplifting good will that emanates amid the crowds and resonates for decades to come . It’s a weekend that Philadelphia will never forget.
Michael Thomas Leibrandt is member of the York Road Historical Society and lives and works in Abington Township.
