Pope’s visit prompts major security measures in host cities
By Sunday morning, when some 1.5 million people are expected to pack onto the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to attend the pope’s Mass, car traffic will be very limited along the 2.5 miles (4 km) from the museum to Independence Hall.
Philadelphia will phase in extensive security cordons, traffic restrictions and school closures next week as it prepares for Pope Francis’ first visit to the United States, Mayor Michael Nutter advised residents on Wednesday.
A public outdoor Mass in the city on Sunday, Sept. 27, is expected to draw 1.5 million people and mark the cap of the pontiff’s six-day visit, which will begin in Washington on Sept. 22 and continue on to New York on Sept. 24.
Police in all three cities are planning for the possibility of hundreds of thousands of people to line streets for brief papal parades, with Philadelphia expecting the biggest crowds around the World Meeting of Families, a triennial event that draws Roman Catholics from around the world.
“Today marks exactly 10 days before Pope Francis arrives in the city of Philadelphia,” Nutter said at City Hall on Wednesday. “Now is the time to finalize your plans. More and more activity is going to take place over the next five, six, seven days leading into next week.”
The U.S. Secret Service, which typically escorts visiting heads of state, will provide the pope with security throughout his visit, which will include meetings with President Barack Obama and addresses to Congress and the United Nations General Assembly.
U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, on Sunday told ABC’s “This Week” that U.S. security officials had already stopped one threat against the pontiff.
“We’re all very … vigilant to protect him as he comes into the United States,” McCaul said.
Philadelphia’s streets will start locking down overnight on Sept. 24. Officials will first set up a secure perimeter around a 1.6 mile (2.6 km) stretch of downtown Center City from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to City Hall.
Special security measures will eventually encompass 4.5 square miles (11.7 square km) of Philadelphia City Center, Nutter said.
The city’s schools will close Sept. 23 through 25, Nutter said.
New York City police on Monday ran a joint simulation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service and more than three dozen other local, state and national police agencies as a dry run for the Pope’s visit.
“Have people ready for every occasion,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told the group of dozens of officials as they rehearsed responses to mock emergencies including an explosion at a Times Square theater and an active shooter at a hospital.
(Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Source: Reuters