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Philadelphia Moves Closer To Finding Out If Pope Francis Will Visit Next Year

By Dan Wing and Pat Ciarrocchi

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia will host the 8th annual World Meeting of Families in September of next year, and word comes from the "National Catholic Reporter" that the Pope will be making the trip.

The event takes place every three years with the goal of strengthening the bond of families across the globe. The event usually features a mass presided over by the Pontiff, and while it appears that will be the case in 2015, Donna Crilley Farrell, executive director of the event in Philadelphia, says it isn't set in stone.

"We don't have any official word that the Holy Father will be coming to Philadelphia, but we are planning as though he is going to come. And we have every hope that he is going to come to Philadelphia," Crilley Farrell said.

The World Meeting of Families 2015 will take place in late September, and this will be the first time that the event is hosted on U.S. soil.

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