Will Pope Francis Stop In Bucks County Sunday?

Could Pope Francis make a stop in Bensalem on Sunday?

Rumors are swirling after a noticeable police presence appeared at the St. Kath­ar­ine Drexel Shrine on Route 13 in the days leading up to the papal visit. The rumor took off once The Northeast Times newspaper reported the pope “could vis­it the shrine dur­ing a break in his pub­lic sched­ule.” Also, the fact that the pope made reference to the Drexel in a Saturday mass likely helped fuel the rumor.

“No – no pope. I’m here because it’s a shrine,” a Bensalem officer parked outside the exit to the site told LevittownNow.com Saturday afternoon.

A shrine official said they had only heard of the rumored visit through the grapevine and doubted it was true.

Several high-ranking area emergency management officials confirmed the officer’s statement and said they were not aware of any plans to bring the pope to the shrine that sits a short district off I-95. One police official who said he would be in the loop on the planning noted the lack of federal law enforcement personnel as an obvious sign there were no firm plans for the pope to visit.

“Hey, maybe something will come up and he’ll stop by,” the official said with a chuckle.

The Northeast Times said the visit could come during the pope’s break in his schedule Sunday. Pope Francis has a scheduled event at a few miles away at Curran-From­hold Cor­rec­tion­al Fa­cil­ity on State Road in Northeast Philadelphia. After that, he has a several hour break before performing a public mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Center City, Philadelphia.

Late Saturday afternoon, volunteers milled around and helped people coming from the World Meeting of Families events unloading off tour buses. At least two Bensalem patrol cars were spotted on the Catholic campus. Several wooden barricades were also in place along with no parking signs.

In the days leading up to the pope’s visit, law enforcement has secured the places being visited by the leader of the Catholic Church. In almost every location he has visited, concrete barriers and fencing was installed prior to the stop.

The shrine official said Saturday afternoon that Bensalem police were assisting them with traffic control for the many outside tours scheduled for the weekend of the papal visit.

The pope’s six-day trip to the United States has been carefully planned and scripted. However, Pope Francis has been known to stray away from the plan slightly to meet with regular people or bless those will illnesses.

Previously, the director of the shrine said they were hearing from tour groups interested in stopping by the shrine during the papal visit.