Vatican Confirms Philadelphia To Host World Meeting Of Families
Jim Melwert
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A big announcement out of the Vatican this morning, and it has to do with Philadelphia.
In 2012, Pope Benedict announced Philadelphia would host the Vatican World Meeting of Families in 2015, and he said he would hope to be there.
Of course, he has since announced his resignation, stepping down this coming Thursday.
While it remains to be seen who will replace Benedict as the new Pope, that new Pontiff is expected to spend several days in the Philadelphia area during the meeting.
A man going to Mass Monday morning at Cathedral Basilica in Center City says he's optimistic the new Pope will visit the city.
"Maybe there's a really good reason the new Pope couldn't make it, but you would think that any commitments they made would certainly be looked at really hard as far as honoring those commitments, so hopefully he'll get here."
The last Pope to visit Philadelphia was John Paul II, in October, 1979.
The World Meeting of families happens every three years, it was in Milan last year.
