Planning a Place for the Pope

If he comes in 2015, will he speak on the Parkway? Maybe not.

Despite the guessing game regarding Pope Francis’s intentions to visit Philly next year — he almost certainly will, barring illness — officials are proceeding to plan for him. One unsettled item: Where he would speak.

“One million turned out on the Parkway in 1979 for the appearance of Pope John Paul II, so it’s easy to assume that if Pope Francis does come to Philadelphia, the Parkway would be the site,” says CBS Philly — but quickly adds that other spots are under consideration.

“We have several different sites that we have proposed, several different logistics,” said Everett Gillison, the mayor’s chief of staff. “There’s positives and negatives to every place that you choose.”

But he added: “I think that we all are hoping that it will be on Parkway, because I just don’t think that any other place really says ‘Philadelphia’ like that view, like that shot.”

Other possible spots: Fairmount Park, one of the stadiums in South Philly — they booed Santa Claus! — and (this might be a joke) the Northeast Philadelphia Airport.