Vatican Sending Some Notable Items to Philadelphia Ahead of Pope's Visit
by Mike Dougherty
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A collection of artifacts from the Vatican is heading to Philadelphia ahead of the papal visit this fall.
The exhibit, called "Vatican Splendors," will be on display at the Franklin Institute starting September 19th, a week before Pope Francis arrives for the World Meeting of Families.
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Franklin Institute president Larry Dubinsky says many of these priceless artifacts have never before been out of Rome.
"Things from Michelangelo and what he did in building the Sistine Chapel, we'll have that. We'll have statues of St. Peter and St. Paul. We'll have an actual cast of the hand of St. John Paul II that will be here," Dubinsky says.
Some of the items have never been on display to the public.
Dubinsky says the traveling exhibit will appear in only one other American city (not yet announced), but it will not be close by.
The exhibit runs through mid February.
