Nutter, Chaput back to Rome for final plans for papal visit

With nearly 90 days until Pope Francis visits Philadelphia, a delegation led by Mayor Nutter and Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is returning to Rome for final preparations.

The delegation, which left early Sunday evening and is to arrive in Rome on Monday morning, last traveled to the Vatican in March 2014 to meet Pope Francis and invite him to Philadelphia.

This time around it's all about logistics - and promotions for the international World Meeting of Families convention and the papal visit.

"As dynamic as the Internet is, at some point in time you really have to sit with people and walk through different things," said Nutter, who discussed the forthcoming trip last week. "You have to say, here's a map of the city, here are all the spots, the hospitals, here's the convention schedule, and then OK - when will the pope arrive and what will that 48-hour-plus time frame look like?"

At Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday afternoon, Nutter, wearing a red World Meeting of Families Philadelphia hat, joined other members of the delegation for a short news conference at the check-in for international departures.

"This trip is really about coordination, logistics, and final plans," said Donna Crilley Farrell, the convention's executive director. "Over recent months we've had a number of different groups from the Vatican come to us, now we really need to come to them to say, plans are getting locked down, we're ready and will be ready in September."

Nutter turned some heads of curious travelers as he made his way through Terminal A West, backpack in hand and flanked by two TSA officers.

Pope Francis is expected to be in Philadelphia Sept. 26 and 27, capping stops in Washington and New York. His schedule while here has not yet been announced, partly because some of those details will be ironed out in Rome, Nutter said.

The delegation's four-day travel plans also include a cocktail reception with Ken Hackett, U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, tours of the Vatican Gardens, the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, the Apostolic Palace, and a private Mass at St. Peter's Basilica.

Meetings are scheduled with the mayor of Rome and the head of police in Vatican City. A news conference at the Vatican's press office, Sala Stampa, is slated for Thursday with updates on the event.

The delegation of 35 includes World Meeting of Families president Robert J. Ciaruffoli and Farrell, as well as several business leaders including the CEO of Wawa, Chris Gheysens, and the CEO of Independence Blue Cross, Dan Hilferty.

City representatives include Desiree Peterkin-Bell, director of communications; Samantha Phillips, director of emergency management; Joseph Sullivan, chief inspector and Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison.

The trip will also be about promoting Philadelphia as an international destination. The World Meeting of Families 2015 will be the eighth Catholic conference of its kind and the first held in the United States.

"The eyes of the world will be on Philadelphia . . . as the birthplace of our nation, the first capital, but also a very large Roman Catholic constituency, a city of faith, a city founded on the principle of religious tolerance, Philadelphia has a lot to offer," Nutter said.

Some announcements are expected on the trip, including a preliminary lineup of who will perform at the WMOF's Saturday night Festival of Families, which Pope Francis is expected to attend - along with as many as 1.5 million to 2 million people. The concert will be free on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway - also the site of Sunday's papal Mass, again expected to drawn enormous crowds.

Organizers said there are no plans for a private audience with the pope but the delegation will attend the Wednesday weekly papal audience in St. Peter's Square. In March, the delegation was given the opportunity to meet the pope personally during the public audience.

"Quite frankly, it's one of the coolest things I've ever experienced in my life," Nutter said. "Whatever happens this time around, I'll be happy."

Also while in Rome, Nutter will meet with Mayor Ignazio Marino, who has close ties to Philadelphia. Marino, elected mayor of Rome in June of 2013, worked as a surgeon at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital from 2002 to 2006. He spoke at the medical school's graduation last month when he got dinner with Nutter.

"He's already tried to help me understand the kinds of things Pope Francis does," Nutter said. "As we've heard, he really enjoys being with the people. He'll go off script or off the schedule.

"The challenge is, he wants as much freedom and accessibility as possible. We want to keep him as safe as possible and sometimes there are conflicts between those two concepts. I expect most of the time, the pope will win but we will do everything we can to make sure he is accessible and safe."

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