‘Look, I have goose bumps,’ says woman watching Francis on Philadelphia big screen

All of this for one man.

Thousands of people lined the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia on Saturday, standing by metal barricades guarded by dozens of police. Some brought flags — Vatican, Argentine, Mexican and American.

One group help a banner that featured a photo of the visiting Pope Francis and said in Spanish, “We are all American, Papa Francisco intercede for immigrants.”

Maria Elena Bowman, 53, of Conshohocken, Pa., watched the pope’s Mass on a big screen set up on 15th Street near City Hall, and was simply overtaken by the moment.

“Look,” she said, lifting her sleeve. “I have goose bumps everywhere!”

Pope Francis’ arrival in Philadelphia for the final leg of his U.S. visit has drawn pilgrims from all over the nation and world and turned the City of Brotherly Love into “Francisville,” as Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput joked after a packed morning Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.

The streets were jammed with families, the elderly and disabled in wheelchairs, seminarians and nuns. And huge crowds stretched for blocks.

In the downtown center city, shops were still open but streets were largely shut down, with massive security checkpoints, scores of metal detectors, some police dogs, uniformed Homeland Security and National Guard troops.

People began streaming into the area early Saturday morning as Francis arrived from New York City.

Mare Amador, 44, was one of dozens who came on an all-night bus ride from Miami. She saw Pope John Paul II in her native Peru when she was 12.

“We identify more with him because he speaks in our language,” she said of Francis. She also likes his message on immigrants: “I think what he’s saying is we all should have an opportunity to succeed.”

Many hoped Francis would cast his attention toward their causes, including the nation’s immigration policies.

Glenda Lebron, 39, of Norristown, Pa., came with her husband, 2-year-old daughter and 8-month-old son. She’s Puerto Rican, a stay-at-home mom who worries about her husband, who is a Guatemalan immigrant in the U.S. illegally

She has been encouraged by the pope’s sympathy for immigrants during his U.S. visit. Watching him on TV as he blessed the daughter of immigrants who approached his motorcade in Washington, D.C., Lebron said she was moved to tears.

“They need to stop the deportations. They’re breaking up families. What am I going to tell my daughter if they take my husband?” Lebron said.

Other pilgrims’ concerns were less dire. Fred Voss and Jay McFadden — they grew up together in Philadelphia and have been friends for 72 years — were both wearing shirts that combined Pope Francis’s name with the logo of their beloved Philadelphia Eagles, who began the season with high expectations but dropped their first two games.

Voss said he doesn’t think that Pope Francis can help the team either. “They’ve already gone to hell,” Voss said. “How can you help someone that’s already been condemned?”

It is Francis’ personality that drew many to Philly. “He feels more like a priest than a judge,” said Brian Russell, a 21-year-old senior at the University of Florida who drove up from Jacksonville with his father. “He’s kind of a mystic, actually.”

Other religions also were working the crowd. Volunteers from the church of Scientology handed out pamphlets, and men with signs and megaphones were telling people that the pope was an antichrist.

There was politicking, too. Workers gathered signatures on petitions that said “Defend Life — Defund Planned Parenthood,” sponsored by the Republican National Committee. The issue of stripping federal grants to the agency is now dividing Congress, with conservatives pushing to shut down the government rather than continue the funding.

Philip Moots, 19, a community college student from Rochester, N.Y., was excited just to be near the pope as he stood watching the morning Mass on the giant screen downtown.

“I’m too broke to fly myself to Rome, so this is the closest I’m going to get,” Moots said. He said he has liked seeing the pope take a stand for the poor and against gun violence.

“He embraces what my generation is trying to get through,” Moots said, and while he doesn’t feel strongly about immigration, he said he would listen to the pope.

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