PHILADELPHIA >> While the Festival of Families may have been a star-studded event, all eyes were focused on Pope Francis.
Thousands attended Saturday night’s concert on the Ben Franklin Parkway, which featured such headliners as singers Aretha Franklin, Andrea Boucelli, comedian Jim Gaffigan, The Fray, solo artist Juanes and actor Mark Wahlberg, who emceed the event. Accompanying many of the performers was the Philadelphia Orchestra. The celebration also featured Catholic families from around the globe standing before the pope describing their personal struggles and how they’ve managed to overcome them.
Pope Francis stole the how, though, during a speech he gave to talk about families.
Making jokes about mothers-in-law and children causing headaches, the pope had the people rolling the aisles.
“We know families are not easy,” the pope said. “Sometimes, a lot of dishes are thrown at heads. … Children can cause headaches. And, I won’t even mention the mother-in-law.”
Even before taking the stage, though, Pope Francis showed his star-power.
He arrived standing atop the Popemobile, smiling and waving to the crowd. On either side of him flashed the twinkling lights of thousands of cell phone cameras going off in bursts.
Those in attendance for the event said they felt moved by the pope’s presence and enormous pride.
Kathy and Joanne Kerns, of Ardmore, both said they were incredibly impressed by the show.
“It was amazing,” Joanne said. “Just to be in the presence of his spirituality was pretty incredible. I think the most memorable moment was waiting five hours to see the Popemobile go by and it was amazing.”
“It was amazing to be here,” Kathy said. “It was history.”
The sisters said they also made a number of new friends, or “pope pals” through the event.
“He’s just a special person. You can just see the smile on his face,” Joanne said of the pope. “You can see it and I think that’s why everybody came.”
Carl and Julia Ackerman, of Narberth, were equally impressed with the show.
“I thought it was awesome,” Carl said. “It was really cool. It was overwhelming getting in but it was really cool to see how many people were from different parts of the world.”
He was surprised by the lineup of the event, not realizing talents like Franklin or The Fray, would be on the bill until he arrived that night, he said.
“And how exciting it was when the pope went by in the popemobile,” he said. “We didn’t try to really get close. We weren’t jockeying for positions, but then once we saw him build up and we got over there and were able to see him it was pretty exciting.”
Julia agreed.”It was beautiful,” she said. The couple had arrived early enough to watch the speech Pope Francis had delivered from Independence Hall. “There was a really nice spirit about the whole day. It was really joyful and celebratory.”
“I felt really proud to be a Philadelphian today,” she continued, “and to be Catholic.”
