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Many Show Up To Bucks County Shrine In Hopes Of Seeing Pope

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By

Tom Sofield
A police car outside the shrine. Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
A police car outside the shrine.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com

As LevittownNow.com reported  on Saturday, Pope Francis would likely not be making a surprise stop at a Catholic Shrine in Bucks County Sunday.

Despite the fact he was not stopping by the St. Kath­ar­ine Drexel Shrine on Route 13 in Bensalem, hundreds, if not thousands, of people showed up hoping Pope Francis would swing by after a visit at nearby Curran-From­hold Cor­rec­tion­al Fa­cil­ity on State Road in Northeast Philadelphia. Images posted on social media show people lining the entrance way and street across from the exit.

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“We’re hearing no,” Bensalem Director of Public Safety Fred Harran said around 12:20 p.m. Sunday.

A federal law enforcement official reached by phone at a Philadelphia command center explained the pope would be making a surprise visit Sunday afternoon but it was not to any location in Bucks County.

The rumors of a papal visit during some downtime he had planned for Sunday afternoon started Saturday morning and appeared to be fueled by a noticeable police presence outside the shrine, its proximity to the prison and barricades brought into the area.

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“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.

Even shrine officials noted they heard the rumor but doubted it was true.

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Several law enforcement sources confirmed to LevittownNow.com on Saturday they had not received word of a papal visit to Bucks County. 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.

After being flown from a Montgomery County seminary to the Northeast Philadelphia prison, the pope made remarks inside the correctional faculty and met with those in attendance. Shortly after, he left and was flown back to Montgomery County so he could rest before Sunday afternoon’s large mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.

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“I personally know a woman with a disabled child who acted on the rumor and paid for a room near the shrine, just for a chance at a blessing,” a staffer at the Northeast Times tweeted on their official account. The newspaper was the first to report on the rumors and cited sources as saying the pope “could” stop in.

Over the past day, some have noted the pope’s habit to stray from plans as a reason he might want to stop by the shrine. While Pope Francis has strayed from the script on certain occasions during his visit to the United States, he has not deviated in any major ways, like a trip of the shrine would have been.

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The shrine has been hosting plenty of pilgrims who have been visiting while in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families and papal visit. Last year, the director of the shrine said they were hearing from tour groups throughout the country.

Tom Sofield

Tom Sofield

Tom Sofield has covered news in Bucks County for 16 years for both newspaper and online publications. Tom’s reporting has appeared locally, nationally, and internationally across several mediums. He is proud to report on news in the county where he lives and to have created a reliable publication that the community deserves.