Catholic Heritage Sites In Pope Host Cities: NYC, DC, Philly

(AP) — Pope Francis will visit three U.S. cities, Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia, Sept. 22-27. For travelers with an interest in sacred places, here are some of the top Catholic heritage sites — including several on the pope's itinerary — in those cities.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.

St. Matthew's Cathedral, 1725 Rhode Island Ave. NW; www.stmatthewscathedral.org . Site of President John F. Kennedy's funeral Mass; on pope's itinerary.

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, 400 Michigan Ave. NE, www.nationalshrine.com . One of the largest churches in the world; on pope's itinerary. Located next to Catholic University.

Holy Trinity Church, 3513 N St. NW, http://trinity.org/ . Founded in 1792 as the city's first Catholic Church; located in Georgetown.

St. Augustine Catholic Church, 15th and V streets NW, http://saintaugustine-dc.org/ . Founded in 1858 by emancipated black Catholics.

Franciscan Monastery, 1400 Quincy St. NE, www.myfranciscan.org . Shrines, catacombs, gardens. Tours offered daily.

Saint John Paul II National Shrine, 3900 Harewood Road NE, www.jp2shrine.org . Relics, exhibit, services.

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NEW YORK

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st streets, near Rockefeller Center, www.saintpatrickscathedral.org . Seat of the New York Archdiocese. Bronze doors bear carved images of New Yorkers who have been canonized; on pope's itinerary.

Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, Mott and Prince streets, www.oldsaintpatricks.com . Cathedral opened 1815.

St. Peter's, Barclay and Church streets, http://spcolr.org/ . Located a block from the World Trade Center. Church was damaged on Sept. 11, 2001. Parish dates to the 1700s.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Shrine in Our Lady of the Rosary Church, 7 State St., near the Staten Island Ferry terminal. Seton was the first U.S.-born saint.

St. Frances Cabrini Shrine, 701 Fort Washington Ave., near 190th Street in Washington Heights, www.cabrinishrinenyc.org . Shrine honors Frances Xavier Cabrini, Italian immigrant, considered patroness of immigrants.

The Cloisters, located in Fort Tryon Park, Washington Heights, http://www.metmuseum.org/visit/visit-the-cloisters. Museum assembled from portions of Medieval European cloisters, owned by the Metropolitan Museum. Stained glass windows and tapestries showing "The Hunt of the Unicorn."

Billboard: Not a sacred spot, but a 225-foot portrait of the pope adorns building at Eighth Avenue and 34th Street, near Madison Square Garden, where the pope is scheduled to celebrate Mass.

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PHILADELPHIA

The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, www.cathedralphila.org . Knotted Grotto outside the basilica, dedicated to Mary, Undoer of Knots. Seat of the Philadelphia archdiocese; on pope's itinerary.

St. John Neumann shrine, 1019 N. 5th St., www.stjohnneumann.org . Shrine honors 18th-century Philadelphia bishop credited with expanding the U.S. Catholic education system.

St. Rita of Cascia, 1166 S. Broad St., www.saintritashrine.org . Shrine began as a parish church dedicated to St. Rita — known as "saint of the impossible" and the "peacemaker" — to help welcome Italian immigrants.

Central Association of the Miraculous Medal, 475 E. Chelten Ave., http://cammonline.org/ . Dedicated to Mary. Stained glass and sculpture.

Old St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, 321 Willings Alley, www.oldstjoseph.org . Philadelphia's oldest Catholic community, founded and staffed by Jesuits.

Old St. Mary's Church, 252 S. 4th St., www.oldstmary.com . Built in 1763. Site of the first public religious commemoration of the Declaration of Independence; visited by George Washington and John Adams.

Elsewhere in Pennsylvania:

St. Katharine Drexel shrine, 1663 Bristol Pike, Bensalem, www.katharinedrexel.org. Shrine honors an heiress who spent her fortune improving the lives of African-Americans and Native Americans.

National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, 654 Ferry Road, Doylestown, www.czestochowa.us. Polish-American Roman Catholic shrine; houses reproduction of Black Madonna icon of Czestochowa, Poland.

St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, 100 E. Wynnewood Road, Wynnewood, www.scs.edu . Founded in 1832. On pope's itinerary. (Not open to public week of pope's visit.)

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Associated Press writer Natalie Pompilio contributed to this story.

By BETH J. HARPAZ

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Online:

http://www.popefrancisvisit.com/

Tickets For Papal Mass And The Festival Of Families During Pope Francis' Visit To Philadelphia Available Wednesday September 9th

PHILADELPHIA --

Tickets for the papal mass and the Festival of Families during Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia will be available Wednesday.

10,000 tickets will be made available for the Festival of Families beginning Wednesday, September 9, at 4:00 p.m.

10,000 tickets will be made available for the papal mass beginning Wednesday, September 9, at 8:00 p.m.

Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis and individuals are limited to four tickets per person.

The Festival of Families will be held at approximately 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 26th and the papal Mass will be held on Sunday, September 27th at 4 p.m.

A link will be available at WorldMeeting2015.org/Tickets

10,000 tickets were made available on Tuesday for the pope's speech at Independence Hall starting at 12 p.m. They were claimed within two minutes.

Tickets from the giveaway were being sold on eBay within the hour, with some sellers asking upwards of $1,000. However, an eBay spokesperson told Action News that the listings were being removed because the listings violated their ticket policy.

Still, a number of listings could still be found on sites such as Craigslist.

Tickets were on a first-come, first-serve basis and individuals were limited to four tickets. The pope will speak at Independence Hall on Saturday, September 26th.

A separate set of tickets were being distributed to the 219 parishes in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, as well as surrounding parishes in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Some church social service programs will also get tickets, as will other faith communities, church officials said.

It was not known how many tickets, in total, would be issued.

A map released by the United States Secret Service showed a red zone, for ticket holders, surrounding the Philadelphia Museum of Art and extending to 20th Street.

From 20th Street and extending to City Hall is a purple zone, where no ticket will be needed.

The ticketing announcement came just a week after a new marketing campaign, "I'll Be There," was unveiled to encourage attendance at the papal events, driven in part by fears that months of discussions about tight security restrictions had scared many people away from attending.million people will attend the papal Mass.

Tickets For Pope Francis' Speech On Independence Mall Available Starting Tuesday September 8th At Noon

PHILADELPHIA --

The Philadelphia Archdiocese says tickets will be available starting today for Pope Francis' speech on Independence Mall later this month.

Beginning at 12:00 p.m. Tuesday, 10,000 tickets will be available to the public for the September 26th event.

You can claim tickets online by visiting www.worldmeeting2015.org/tickets

Tickets are on a first-come, first-serve basis and individuals are limited to four tickets.

Specific ticketing information has yet to be released for two other events, the Festival of Families and Pope Francis' Mass on the Ben Franklin Parkway. We do know those tickets will be made available on Wednesday, September 9th.

A total of 30,000 tickets will be made available for the public events.

The tickets will be divided up as follows:

For Pope Francis' speech at 12 p.m. Saturday, September 26th on Independence Mall, the total number of tickets available to the public has been increased from 5,000 to 10,000. The tickets will be available to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis on Tuesday, September 8th.

For the Festival of Families on Saturday, September 26th, 10,000 tickets will be made available on a first-come, first-serve basis on Wednesday, September 9th. The Festival of Families event begins at approximately 12:00 p.m.

For the papal Mass at 4 p.m. on Sunday, September 27th, an additional 10,000 tickets are being made available. The tickets will also be available to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis on Wednesday, September 9th.

The announcement about the need for tickets came as something of a surprise on Wednesday. When we asked on Thursday what changed, the executive director of the World Meeting of Families, Donna Crilley Farrell said:

"We had always predicated some limited ticketing, and as we worked through security arrangements and plans were being made final, we knew how the Parkway was going to be laid out. For security reasons and crowd management, we have ticketed areas."

When asked how tickets make the event safer, Farrell said "You'd have to talk to a crowd management expert about that, but in certain areas you don't want huge crowds. You have to be able to limit the number of people in crowds."

Tickets are also being distributed to the 219 parishes in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, as well as surrounding parishes in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Some church social service programs will also get tickets, as will other faith communities, church officials said.

It was not known how many tickets, in total, would be issued.

"We're not going to release the specific numbers for ticketing," Farrell said.

A map released on Wednesday by the United States Secret Service showed a red zone, for ticket holders, surrounding the Philadelphia Museum of Art and extending to 20th Street.

From 20th Street and extending to City Hall is a purple zone, where no ticket will be needed.

The ticketing announcement comes just a week after a new marketing campaign, "I'll Be There," was unveiled to encourage attendance at the papal events, driven in part by fears that months of discussions about tight security restrictions had scared many people away from attending.

Sales of hotel rooms remain slower that expected. There have been price cuts showing up, but still about a one-third of the rooms in Center City remain unsold.

"There is a sense of urgency but there's not panic yet for the weekend. There's still plenty of time to book those rooms," said Ed Grose of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association.

Rail pass sales remain flat and organizers confirmed charter bus registrations were at least 70 percent below expectations.

However, Farrell said she does not believe there will be fewer than the 1.5 million visitors who are expected, saying "I really don't think so, again, based on the calls we get."

Church officials have estimated that as many as 1.5 million people will attend the papal Mass.