papal visit band

Papal Visit Goes for the Punch with a Quick and Slick ‘The Opposite Heart’

Saint John’s Papal Visit is back with “The Opposite Heart,” the first singles to be released from their upcoming album, Five Fathom Hole.

“The Opposite Heart” is a punchy song, it’s over and done in just a minute and a half. The band makes good use of that time, treating us to a thick crunchy rhythm guitar, a lead guitar hook that suggests the vocal melody while adding its own layer. When the band kicks in with the bass and drums, the song gets yet another lift, and the energy stays up from that point on. This song could be a case study on efficiency with all that gets done in its brief time.

Lead singer Adam Mowery delivers, as usual, on “The Opposite Heart.” His inimitable vocals are immediately recognizable, even with distortion layered on them. Mowery paints a picture of a woman at the point of decision, and it seems things just aren’t going to go the way anyone but herself wishes. In keeping with the rest of the song, this is established with lyrical restraint, there isn’t a spare word or note in this track.

“The Opposite heart” and its accompanying video were released along with a second track, “Fuzz Tone Opera” on the single. Call it a B-side and flip your phone over for a sample of the experience the vinyl will give you.

The accompanying video—shot in one of Saint John’s oldest rehearsal spaces, colloquially known as The Space —is a fun visual to accompany the song. It gives a window into a normal rehearsal; an entirely (once) common-place occurrence that has formed a pillar in the city’s music community that often bleeds out into the surrounding streets. Well-shot and edited, simple but effective, it makes me want to see the band live for the sake of more than just nostalgia.

Five Fathom Hole is being released via Monopolized Records on November 12, 2021, and will be available for digital purchase as well as on vinyl for all the record collectors among us.

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East Coast Arts & Culture

Papal Visit make their vinyl debut with Five Fathom Hole

Papal visit’s latest full-length is as much an act of friendship as it is a work of collage and community., matt carter .

Are they a supergroup? Are they a collective? Is collective just a polite way to say supergroup? Could a Saint John supergroup even exist without Brent Mason? Without Ken Tobias? Without Andrew Earle? None of this really matters. What matters here is that Papal Visit has a new album out. Their first full-length vinyl release. And as the title alludes, Five Fathom Hole is a deep collection (30 feet deep if you’re pausing to do a little nautical math), packed to the brim with songs and ideas performed by a formidable group of Saint John’s indie music nobility in all their true to life low-fi splendor. 

The significance of this record – as much an act of friendship as one of community – cannot be overstated. Whether or not you’re a fan of music broadly classified as indie, a fan of garage rock, a fan of gritty love songs, or a fan of music from your own hometown, it would be next to impossible to not hold some degree of appreciation for what it is Papal Visit has done in creating this document. From concept through to delivery, Five Fathom Hole is a significant achievement, the magnitude of which could easily be missed without first establishing some context.    

Those with an ear for what’s been happening in Saint John as far as music goes are most likely already familiar with Papal Visit or its many moving parts. Founded initially as a means of long distance collaboration between two friends and former bandmates who ended up living in different cities, in different provinces, after many years of writing, recording and performing together, Papal Visit has grown to become one of the most prolific creative projects to call Saint John home. Or to be more precise, Papal Visit could be called the city’s most prolific group since the last group to feature founding members Adam Mowery and Pierre Cormier. High volume output is their modus operandi. It’s what they were put on this earth to do. 

With a collective lineage spanning nearly two decades of music making, Mowery and Cormier are responsible for an enormous amount of music that helped to create the sonic identity many now associate with Saint John independent music. Outside of their primary projects – Cormier with The Organizers (2000-2005) and Wooden Wives (2005-2015) and Mowery with Port City All-Stars (2004-2005), Wooden Wives (2005-2015) and his ongoing solo work – both have become pillars of the scene releasing a non-stop stream of new music while also contributing to the work of other artists either as performing musicians or on the backend just helping to make things happen. I tip my hat to them here, even before we get into their current work. I’m a firm believer of giving respect where respect is due. Maybe someday when they decide to add new faces to the “A Few Famous Folk From Saint John” billboards we’ll get to see Mowery and Cormier up there alongside Alden Nowlan and Stompin’ Tom looking down at the cracked pavement, cigarette butts and empty tall boys. Yeah, that’ll probably never happen. But it should, before they die. I’ll leave it at that. Let’s start a petition when we’re done here, OK?

So let’s get one thing straight. Papal Visit is Adam Mowery and Pierre Cormier. They wrote and recorded every song. But on Five Fathom Hole , Papal Visit is also Chris Braydon, Jason Ogden and Geoffrey Smith. They played on just about every song. And if you want to go even broader you can. Papal Visit is also Dan Boyer, Dan Chamberlain, Jud Crandall, Corey Isenor, Alex Keleher, Sadie and Adam Kierstead, on this album at least. 

Here’s a different way to look at it. If you were to examine this entire group of collaborators through a six-degrees-of-separation lens, you could easily draw close connections to every single independent rock band going back through more than thirty years of Saint John music. How’s that for context? The crazy thing is, it’s not an exaggeration. Not even a little. There is zero hyperbole in that statement. With Five Fathom Hole , Papal Visit offers us 25 songs that in some capacity embody elements of an entire community. A community where Mowery and Cormier found a home for their own voices and in turn helped others find a place for theirs. That’s almost enough to bring a tear to your eye. 

“Many of the songs were done in the pen pal manner. That is our usual approach. Pierre writes the music, enlisting Geoff [Smith], Chris [Braydon] and Jason [Ogden] to fill out the parts with him. They are our live band of regulars as well,” said Mowery.

“Most Saturday nights you can find them having a drink at their rehearsal space and trying to put together a structure and get a recording done to send to me. That being said, like our other records, there’s some spill over to me being at the sessions and appearing on tracks, sometimes even bringing a song I prepared earlier.”

There is a lot happening on this record. Five Fathom Hole is as much a collection of songs as it is a collection of vignettes or ideas for songs that never made it past the “hook and few good lines” stage of development. There are songs in the form we think of when we think of songs, mixed together with what could best be described as audio transcriptions lifted from notebooks and scrap pieces of paper, anything used to document a thought that had some merit. Like a series of voice memos with a backing band. This collage-like approach to creating an album breaks up the traditional song, song, song idea by creating a series of short pathways or back alleys that lead from one idea to another. It’s a lot like navigating Saint John on foot. Some of these passages take a minute to get through while others take just a few steps. Whichever path you follow, you always end up somewhere fun. That’s right. I’m saying this album reflects the very DNA of Saint John, right down to its urban planning or lack thereof. 

“It’s sort of a grab bag of different approaches and sessions,” said Mowery. “Most things get edited way down, so songs that may have been five minutes, you might just get a minute and a half of, to try and create this sonic collage element.”

This collage concept extends beyond the subliminal references to the city, varying song structures and the musicians who perform them. In a way, Papal Visit’s collage connection has been active since April 28, 2017 when they released their sixth single, What Makes Him Win Like That? This was the first single to feature Mowery’s album defining collage work that would become as much a part of each new Papal Visit release as the music itself. This single also coincides with the first time musicians outside the group’s Mowery/Cormier core were featured. With the exception of the following single ( It’s Been Discontinued – August 2017), the next nine releases from Papal Visit would go on to feature both Mowery’s distinct visual designs and a corresponding collage of musicians, eventually landing on the lineup featured predominantly on Five Fathom Hole.  

The whole collage concept has become a defining characteristic of the band and is at the heart of this new record, even extending to who plays what on which tracks.

“If you hear drums it’s probably Geoff, but not always,” said Mowery. “If you hear bass it’s probably Pierre, or me, and guitars are usually Chris and Jason, except where guests are noted.”

As a direct result of this approach, nothing on Five Fathom Hole is formulaic. There is no apparent songwriting formula that seems dominant across this album. Each song is its own thing. There are verse-chorus-verse songs, sure, but they are scattered amongst so many other approaches to structure and storytelling that no method can be named dominant. Five Fathom Hole finds its strength in its diversity. From the songs themselves to the people who perform them. From individual recordings that range from ultra low-fi to the more contemporary low-fi qualities that have shaped career defining albums from some of indie rock’s best known exports. We have Cormier to thank for this. His ear for tone and mixing is as much a part of this record as Mowery’s voice and words. 

For all the highs the Saint John scene has experienced over the years – all the great performers, writers, and musicians the city has generated, including the many who have contributed to this album – the lows have always been present. As an example, there hasn’t been a music venue in the city that’s lasted more than a handful of years. And the ongoing gentrification of the city’s cultural core – its uptown – continues to shrink future possibilities by squeezing out options and welcoming residents who expect silence after 9 p.m. Perhaps that’s one of the contributing factors as to why so many distinct projects were born there. If you can’t play, you can at least practice. I’ve always found Saint John musicians to have this roll-with-the-punches attitude which I believe has fuelled creativity in the face of adversity. That’s part of the reason Papal Visit came into existence. There’s always a way forward. Five Fathom Hole is proof.

As Saint John currently exists without a home for live music performances of the rock and roll persuasion (That’s right. A city of 70,000 people and no current, consistent home for “loud” music), the band will be hitting the road to celebrate the release of this magnificent album later this month with a show at The Cap in Fredericton on November 27 with Maiden Names and Doctor, Mother, Father. See you there. 

Five Fathom Hole was released November 12 via Monopolized Records. Grab a copy at Backstreet Records or one order online . 

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Watch CBS News

Interview: Ghost Stories With One Of The Band's Nameless Ghouls

June 1, 2017 / 5:00 PM EDT / CBS Philadelphia

By Michael Cerio

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In 2015, as Philadelphia prepared for the Pope, the satanic songs of Ghost prepared to reschedule.

The Swedish heavy metal band, shrouded in satanism and secrecy, found their show inside the off-limits "traffic box" reserved for the papal visit and were forced to move to a later date.

"Philly wasn't big enough for the two of those dudes, so unfortunately we had to give in," laughs one of the band's Nameless Ghouls over the phone earlier this week.

The band moved that show to the following week and has been on the move upward ever since. Ghost won a Grammy in 2016, topped the rock charts with their single "Square Hammer," and are set to open for the legendary Iron Maiden for The Book Of Souls Tour 2017 . They stop back in Philadelphia on Sunday, June 4 at the Wells Fargo Center.

"I'm very excited about it," he explains about the bands trek with Iron Maiden. "Of course. One of my childhood favorites, and now as a grown man their also friends of ours and good mentors."

Ghost is a band that is heavy on theatrics and anonymity with all members shielding their identities with makeup and masks, only referring to themselves as Nameless Ghouls. This mystery, plus their music, has led to acclaim and a few recent legal headaches.

Through lawsuits over royalties and disputes over what it means to be in a "band" of this nature, some members have been revealed and some relationships have been compromised.

"I have been in the band since I started the band," explains the Nameless Ghoul which we spoke with. "I started writing songs for it in 2006.

"There has been about 10 to 15 people now going in and out of the band so, there's been a lot of rotation.

"It's never really been a band in the classic sense in that you have someone who plays his or hers instrument and that she or he is the only person in the world that can make it sound like that. People, have a tendency to want to feel that they're very important for something. If it's not crucial that they're there, there will also be a little bit of a friction there."

That distinction of what makes a person a member of the band Ghost has been an ongoing conversation and source of legal scrutiny. As it sorts itself out behind the scenes, Ghost remains busy. A new album is in the works, set to start production after they end their own headlining tour this summer.

"I know very clearly what the new record will be about," says the Nameless Ghoul. "The new record that we're gonna start recording now in August is something that I've been working on for three or four years."

You can see Ghost this Sunday at Wells Fargo Center with Iron Maiden, or catch them later this summer on July 20 at The Fillmore in Philadelphia.

To hear much more from our talk with the Nameless Ghoul of Ghost, check out the full interview below.

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September 07, 2015

The Papal Bull-etin: Everything you need to know about Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia

Whether you're trekking into center city or staying home, here's what you need to know.

Pope Francis is visiting Philadelphia on Sept. 26 and 27. From event tickets to  road closures to security perimeters and altered public transit schedules,  here's what you need to know to see the Holy Father:

If you plan to attend

• Pope Francis will make his first public appearance at 4:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26 at Independence Mall, where he will deliver a speech on immigration and religious liberty. He will then appear at the Festival of Families at 7:30 p.m. on the Parkway, an event expected to draw 800,000 people. 

• The biggest event of the weekend happens Sunday, Sept. 27. Some 1.5 million people are expected to flood the Parkway when Pope Francis delivers a 4 p.m. Mass at Eakins Oval. For many, it will be reminiscent of the Mass said by Pope John Paul II at Logan Square in October 1979.

• Pope Francis will parade down the Parkway twice during the weekend, giving pilgrims an opportunity to see him up-close. The first parade will occur prior to the Festival of Families. Pope Francis will be driven down the Parkway from Eakins Oval, around City Hall, and back up to Eakins Oval. A second, smaller parade is slated for Sunday, but exact details have not been announced.

• Be prepared to walk — and possibly stand idly for hours. As detailed below, Center City will be closed to most vehicular traffic. Massive crowds are expected to flock onto the Parkway and Independence Mall long before Pope Francis arrives. There will be food and beverage vendors available. 

• Secure perimeters, in which visitors must pass through metal detectors, will be established around the Parkway and Independence Mall.  (See map below.)  The Parkway perimeter opens at 6 a.m. Friday, Sept. 25. The Independence Mall perimeter will open at 6 a.m. Saturday. Pilgrims are prohibited from bringing bicycles, hard coolers, drones, packages, selfie sticks and glass, thermal or metal containers. Backpacks and signs are limited to certain restrictions. A full listing of prohibited items can be found here . 

•The areas in green and black on the map will be open only to ticket-holders. The area in orange will be open to the people who go through security screenings. The light blue area is the traffic box, where incoming traffic is not allowed. 

• Tickets are required to access the areas providing the best views of Pope Francis. Only ticketed attendees can access the portion of the Parkway extending from 20th Street to Eakins Oval. Tickets are being distributed by event organizers to the 219 parishes comprising the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Another 10,000 free tickets to each Parkway event will be made available online to the public Wednesday, Sept. 9 on a first-come, first-serve basis.

• Tickets also are needed to watch Pope Francis speak at Independence Mall. Those tickets were freely distributed online Tuesday, Sept. 8 on a first-come, first-serve basis. They were claimed within two minutes.

• Forty Jumbotrons will be placed throughout Center City to broadcast live papal events and other programming beginning at 6 a.m. Live broadcasts involving Pope Francis include his airport arrival, a cathedral Mass, his speech at Independence Hall, the Festival of Families and the public papal Mass.

• Major highways will be shut down and most private vehicles will be restricted from entering a "traffic box," also known as the Francis Festival Grounds, encompassing Center City and surrounding neighborhoods, as detailed more fully below.

• The region's public transit systems all will be operating on amended schedules, as also detailed below. Many trains require passengers to purchase special passes to ride.

If you plan to take SEPTA

• SEPTA is closing most stations on its regional rail, subway, trolley and high speed lines in an attempt to shuttle passengers into Center City as quickly as possible. The boarding stations that will open are shown on the map below (Since releasing the map, SEPTA has since announced several additional stations along the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines also will be open, but they are not indicated on the map):

• Special papal passes are required to ride SEPTA's regional rails on Saturday and Sunday. No other fares will be permitted. The transit agency made 175,000 papal passes available for each day. The passes — which remain available — need to be purchased in advance. Parking outside SEPTA's stations will be limited.

• SEPTA has published an interactive map showing snapshots of parking locations, customer drop-off and pick-up points, customer staging areas, road closures and vehicle access points at each of the 18 outlying Regional Rail stations.

• The Airport Line will operate inbound and outbound trains every 30 minutes on Saturday and Sunday. Passengers will need to purchase a one-day papal pass, available for purchase in airport terminals. Local residents and other visitors can pay to park in the airport lot and take the Airport Line into Center City. Those with pre-purchased papal passes will get priority boarding between 5:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. After 8 a.m., weekly and monthly passes also will be accepted as valid fares.

• Special three-day passes are necessary to the ride the Norristown High Speed Line and Trolley routes 101 and 102. The $10 passes, made available via online lottery, are the only acceptable fare for Saturday and Sunday. The passes also are valid Monday, Sept. 28, when standard fares again are accepted.

• SEPTA also will sell three-day passes to ride its subways, buses and remaining trolleys during the papal visit. The passes are on sale for $10 apiece. However, standard tokens and passes also will be accepted on those transit modes.

• The Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines will operate inbound and outbound trains from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. However, the lines only will stop at select stops, listed here .

• The following SEPTA city bus routes will operate on weekday schedules on Saturday and Sunday: 3, 5, 6, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 31, 33, 42, 47, 50, 52, 55, 58, 66, 70 and R. The following suburban bus routes also will operate on a weekday schedule: 99, 103, 104, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 123, 124, 125, 201 and 206. Another 28 bus routes and the Route 10 trolley will be suspended. Affected routes will be posted on SEPTA's website

• Bicycles will not be permitted on SEPTA trains or inside transit vehicles.

If you plan to take New Jersey Transit

• Special tickets will be required to ride the Atlantic City Rail Line and the River Line. Both lines will operate on a limited schedule on Saturday and Sunday. No other fares, including monthly passes, Family SuperSaver or cash, will be accepted on either line. 

• Special tickets for the Atlantic City Rail Line can be pre-purchased here . Special tickets for the River Line can be bought at the following stations — Trenton, Bordentown, Florence, Burlington South, Route 73/Pennsauken and Pennsauken Transportation Center.

• The Atlantic City Rail Line will operate hourly express trips from the Atlantic City Rail Terminal to 30th Street Station beginning at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. The last train leaves Atlantic City at 3 p.m. The trains will not stop at any other stops.

• Following the Festival of Families on Saturday, trains will depart 30th Street Station at 10 p.m. and operate every 30 minutes. Following the Sunday Mass, trains will leave at 7 p.m. and operate every 30 minutes.

• The River Line will offer limited service beginning at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Trains only will stop at Bordentown, Florence, Burlington South, Route 73/Pennsauken, Pennsauken Transit Center and the Walter Rand Transportation Center. Trains will not operate beyond the Walter Rand Transportation Center in Camden due to expected crowded road conditions.

• Following the papal events, River Line trains will depart Walter Rand Transportation Center on a load-and-go basis.

• No bicycles will be permitted aboard NJ Transit trains.

• All bus routes that typically travel into Center City will terminate at the Walter Rand Transportation Center. Additional bus service will operate on Route 419, which runs along the River Line between Burlington Towne Centre and Camden. Enhanced service will be provided on Route 554 from Atlantic City to Lindenwold. No special ticketing is needed for bus service.

• Access Link service to and from Philadelphia will be suspended Friday through Monday. Service will resume Tuesday, Sept. 29.

If you plan to take PATCO

• PATCO will provide express, non-stop service westbound to its 10th and Locust streets station in Center City from four New Jersey stops — Lindenwold, Woodcrest, Ferry Avenue and Broadway. Return trips departing Center City only will stop at those four stations.

• Only passengers who have pre-purchased Freedom cards will be able to ride. The passes can be purchased until Sept. 1 at the agency's Broadway Station and on its website .

• Parking will be limited at the stations. It is not available at the Broadway station in Camden.

If you plan to drive

• Major roadways begin closing near Philadelphia at 10 p.m. Friday. The Schuylkill Expressway will be closed eastbound from I-476 to I-95 and westbound from I-95 to City Avenue. The entire Vine Street Expressway will be closed. City Avenue will be closed from Lancaster Avenue to Belmont Avenue.

• The Benjamin Franklin Bridge will be limited to pedestrian traffic beginning at 10 p.m. Friday. It will not reopen until sometime Monday. In New Jersey, I-676 will be closed westbound from Exit 3 to the bridge. The Admiral Wilson Boulevard will be closed westbound from Airport Circle to the bridge.

• I-95 will remain open, but traffic will be diverted at some ramps.

• The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation launched a website that provides real-time traffic conditions on regional highways. It also includes details on the best paths to reach the papal venues and diversionary routes. 

• Only buses registered with the World Meeting of Families will be able to enter the "traffic box" engulfing Center City. Aside from emergency vehicles, no other vehicles will be permitted to enter from 6 p.m. Friday until sometime Monday.

• Heading east to west, the "traffic box" encompasses an area from the Delaware River to 38th Street in West Philly. Its southern border is South Street. Its northern border runs, east to west, along Spring Garden Street, Ridge Avenue and Girard Avenue. See the map below (note: the blue area goes into effect Friday at 6 p.m. while the purple area goes into effect the same day at 10 p.m.):

If you plan to take a taxi or UberBlack

• Taxi cabs and UberBlack service will be permitted to access the "traffic box" until 2 a.m. Saturday. They may re-enter at 3 a.m. Monday.

• Twenty-seven taxis compliant with American with Disabilities Act will be permitted to drive within the traffic box at all times.

If you plan to bike

• Biking figures to be a popular transportation mode. Bicyclists will be able to travel over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and into the Center City "traffic box."

• Indego, the city's new ridesharing bike program, will keep four bike stations open. Those locations are Rittenhouse Square, Front and Dock streets, 30th Street, and Spring Garden and Broad streets. All other docking stations will close.

• The accessibility of the Schuylkill River trail remains in question. Sufficient bike corrals for cyclists to lock their bikes also remain in doubt.

• Bicycles will not be permitted on New Jersey Transit trains or buses. SEPTA is forbidding bicycles on its regional rail service or inside transit vehicles.

If you plan to cross the Benjamin Franklin Bridge

• The Ben Franklin Bridge will be limited to pedestrian traffic beginning at 10 p.m. Friday until sometime Monday — possibly as late as noon. Walking from New Jersey to Center City is expected to take pedestrians several hours. Pedestrians will not need to pass through security checkpoints to access the bridge.

• Parking in Camden will be limited — no private parking is available — making it difficult to drive and park near the bridge. I-676 westbound will be closed from Exit 3 to the bridge. The Admiral Wilson Boulevard also will be closed westbound from Airport Circle to the bridge.

• New Jersey officials advise walkers to find a place to stay overnight in Philadelphia. Those returning should bring a flashlight for when night falls.

If you plan to take the RiverLink ferry

If you plan to travel from the airport.

• SEPTA's Airport Line will operate inbound and outbound trains every 30 minutes on Saturday and Sunday. Passengers will need to purchase a one-day papal pass, available for purchase in airport terminals, before boarding. No tickets will be sold on the trains. 

• Local residents and other visitors can pay to park in the airport lot and take the Airport Line into Center City. Passengers with pre-purchased papal passes will get priority boarding between 5:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. After 8 a.m., weekly and monthly passes also will be accepted as valid fares.

• Taxi cabs and UberBlack service will be permitted to access the "traffic box" engulfing Center City until 2 a.m. Saturday. They may re-enter at 3 a.m. Monday.

If you live within the 'traffic box'

• Heading east to west, the "traffic box" encompasses an area from the Delaware River to 38th Street in West Philly. Its southern border is South Street. Its northern border runs, east to west, along Spring Garden Street, Ridge Avenue and Girard Avenue.

• Only emergency vehicles, bicycles and buses registered with the World Meeting of Families will be able to enter. No other vehicles will be permitted to enter from 6 p.m. Friday until sometime Monday.

• Residents living within the 'traffic box' may drive their vehicles throughout it, but should be prepared for difficulties caused by massive crowds. Vehicles also can exit the box but may not re-enter until the box is disbanded Monday.

• A secure vehicle perimeter — in which no vehicles are permitted — will be established around the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Independence Mall. All parked vehicles must be moved from within this area, outlined by the black line on the map below.

• Two additional fenced security perimeters, located in red on the map above, sit within the secure vehicle perimeter. Visitors must pass through metal detectors to enter those areas. 

• The secure vehicle perimeter and the fenced secure perimeter around the Parkway will be constructed at 10 p.m. Thursday. The Independence Mall fenced perimeter will go up at 10 p.m. Friday.

• Towing will begin on Sunday, Sept. 20 in preparation for the placement of fencing along the Parkway and Independence Mall. All secure zones must be cleared by Wednesday, Sept. 23. Signs will be posted on Sept. 14 warning of the planned towing. A map indicating the varied times residents must remove their vehicles is below (click on the list icon on the upper left-hand sign for a map legend).

• There are six Philadephia Parking Authority garages with 2,000 total spaces available. The garage locations are at 16th and Vine streets, 15th and Arch streets, Second and Sansom streets, 10th and Ludlow streets, Ninth and Filbert streets, and Eighth and Chestnut streets. The Naval Hospital Lot, at 1600 Pattison Ave, with 1,500 spaces, will offer free parking.

• Residents who pre-purchase a weekend-long pass to a Philadelphia Parking Authority garage space will be able to remain parked on the street until Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. They must place an exemption placard in their vehicle to prevent it from towing. Once a vehicle has entered one of the garages, it must remain there until Sept. 28. Pre-purchased tickets cost $20 for the weekend.

• Residents also can call Luxe, a private valet parking service, to pick up a car and move it out of the restricted areas. The fee is $20 per day. Residents can email [email protected] or register  here . 

If you live in Lower Merion

• Pope Francis will be staying at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary on East Wynnewood Road. Road closures are expected to create significant traffic congestion. Crowds are expected to gather near the seminary, as people hope to catch a glimpse of the pope.

• City Avenue will be closed from Lancaster Avenue to Belmont Avenue from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. 

• Lower Merion officials have said residents will be able to get to their homes by car. Residential parking passes have been distributed to preserve local street parking for residents. Those living near the seminary's entrance on East Wynnewood Road will need to enter their property through a checkpoint.

• Ensuring access to Lankenau Medical Center, located across the from the seminary, will be paramount. Lower Merion officals said parking will be available at the medical center for those with a reason to be there. Lancaster Avenue will remain open. 

• Helicopters are expected to land and take off from the seminary; Lower Merion officials said the pope is expected to use a helicopter to get to the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility on Sunday. 

Businesses/Restaurants in Center City

• Mayor Michael Nutter and event organizers are encouraging Center City businesses to remain open during the papal visit. Reading Terminal Market, McGillin's Olde Ale House, Del Frisco's Double Edge Steakhouse, Jack's Firehouse, Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks are among the eateries committed to remaining open. Wawa also will remain open.

• Businesses located within the 'traffic box' — but outside the secure vehicle zone — can get deliveries or have trash collected between midnight and 4 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Trucks must be less than 28-foot-long. Trucks entering the outer ring will not need to be screened. There are no designated entry areas.

• Businesses within the secure vehicle zone must have all delivery vehicles screened. Entry points will be announced later.

• The Philadelphia Department of Commerce launched a business resource center designed to assist businesses affected by the papal visit. Businesses can call 215-683-2100 with questions, including those concerning employees and operations, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

If you are pregnant or need medical assistance

• Several Center City hospitals sit within the 'traffic box' – Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Hahnemann University Hospital, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Hospital. Penn Presbyterian Medical Center sits on the 38th Street border.

• Pregnant women will be able to travel through the restricted "traffic box" to deliver at their preferred facility, though specific details have not been announced. Other patients, such as the chronically ill, also will be able to travel through the "traffic box."

• The city has not announced its emergency preparedness plan, but emergency vehicles will be able to travel into the "traffic box." First aid tents are expected to be scattered throughout the parkway to provide assistance to pilgrims falling ill. Those requiring additional treatment will be taken to a medical facility by Philadelphia Fire and EMS officials.

• Hospitals have planned staff increases, hospital sleep-ins and supply boosts. Non-emergency services are not expected to be curtailed. Surgeries and chemotherapy treatments will be scheduled for the convenience of the patient, according to Mark Ross, healthcare emergency preparedness manager for the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.

What to expect at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway

• A secure perimeter will be constructed at 10 p.m. Thursday in preparation for the weekend's Parkway events — the Festival of Families on Saturday and the papal mass on Sunday. The area, in which all pilgrims must pass through metal detectors, will open to pedestrians at 6 a.m. Friday.

• Pilgrims are prohibited from bringing bicycles, hard coolers, drones, packages, selfie sticks and glass, thermal or metal containers. Backpacks and signs are limited to certain restrictions. A full listing of prohibited items can be found  here

• Only ticketed attendees can access the portion of the Parkway extending from 20th Street to Eakins Oval. Those tickets are being distributed by event organizers to the 219 parishes comprising the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Another 10,000 free tickets to each Parkway event will be made available online to the public on Wednesday, Sept. 9 on a first-come, first-serve basis.

• Ticketed pilgrims can access the Parkway by passing through security checkpoints at the following locations: Pennsylvania Avenue at the intersection of North 23rd and Spring Garden streets, North 22nd at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Hamilton Street, Hamilton Street between North 21st and North 22nd streets, North 21st Street between Hamilton Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, North 20th Street at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Callowhill Street, North 20th and Race streets, and North 21st and Winter streets. 

• Non-ticket holders can access the Parkway area from 20th Street to City Hall. For Saturday's Festival of Families, pilgrims can enter through security checkpoints at the following intersections: North 15th and Cherry streets, North Broad and Cherry streets, South Broad and Chestnut streets, South 15th and Chestnut streets, South 17th and Market streets, and South 17th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard. For the papal Mass on Sunday, pilgrims must pass through security checkpoints at North 19th and Wood streets, North 18th and Cherry streets, and North 19th and Cherry streets.

• Jumbotrons will be placed throughout the Parkway to broadcast the Festival of Families and papal Mass, among other events.

• Suggested walking routes, outlined in green, are included on the map above.

What to expect at Independence Mall

• A secure perimeter will be built at 10 p.m. Friday in preparation for Pope Francis' speech Saturday outside Independence Hall. The area, in which all pilgrims must pass through metal detectors, will open to the public at 6 a.m. Saturday.

• Pilgrims are prohibited from bringing bicycles, hard coolers, drones, packages, selfie sticks and glass, thermal or metal containers. Backpacks and signs are limited to certain restrictions. A full listing of prohibited items can be found  here .

• Tickets are required to access Independence Mall when Pope Francis delivers his speech. A total of 10,000 tickets were freely distributed online Tuesday, Sept. 8 on a first-come, first-serve basis. Tickets also are being distributed by event organizers to ethnic apostolates and immigrant communities through the Archdiocesan Office of Multicultural Ministries.

• Pilgrims can enter Independence Mall through security checkpoints at the following intersections: North Fourth and Market streets, North Fourth and Chestnut streets, North Fifth and Race streets, North Fifth and Arch streets, and North Sixth and Race streets.

• Jumbotrons will be placed throughout the Mall to broadcast Pope Francis' speech on immigration, among other papal events.

If you are a student

• The School District of Philadelphia and Archdiocesan schools will be closed from Wednesday, Sept. 23 through Friday, Sept. 25.

• All Philadelphia public schools and administrative offices will also be closed Monday, Sept. 28. 

If you are traveling from Delaware County

Pope francis' philly schedule.

Saturday, Sept. 26

• Private arrival: Atlantic Aviation

• The Cathedral Mass with Pope Francis: The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul

• Greeting of the Holy Father by the Seminarians: Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, Wynnewood

• “We Hold These Truths”: An address by Pope Francis. Outdoors on Independence Mall

• The Festival of Families: The Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Sunday, Sept. 27

• Address to cardinals and bishops attending World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015: Saint Martin’s Chapel at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, Wynnewood.

• Visit with prisoners and select families: Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia.

• The Papal Mass: The Benjamin Franklin Parkway (Projected start: 4 p.m. EDT)

• A Celebration of World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015 Supporters + Volunteers: Atlantic Aviation

• Official departure ceremony: Atlantic Aviation

John Kopp PhillyVoice Staff

[email protected]

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Pope Francis to visit Singapore from Sept 11 to 13

SINGAPORE - Pope Francis will visit Singapore from Sept 11 to 13, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore confirmed on April 12.

The Pope will also celebrate mass, which is tentatively set to take place on Sept 12.

In a statement on its website, the Archdiocese said it was sharing the news of the Pope’s visit, which was confirmed by The Holy See, with great “jubilation and thanksgiving”.

Cardinal William Goh, the Archbishop of Singapore, said of the visit: “It has been 38 years since we had a visit from the Vicar of Christ to Singapore, when Pope St John Paul II honoured us with a visit on 20 November 1986.

“It is my hope that this visit of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, will bring renewed fervour to all Catholics in Singapore, uniting them in faith and mission, especially in these most challenging of times.”

The Archdiocese statement added: “As we prepare for His Holiness’ visit, let us, as a community, pray for the continued health and safety of the Holy Father and ask the Lord to grant us a truly meaningful and grace-filled visit.”

Earlier on April 2, a spokesman for Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “Singapore welcomes a visit by Pope Francis.”

The tour, which had been earlier scheduled for August, will mark only the second papal visit to Singapore.

The Singapore Government, the Holy See and local church officials are discussing details of Pope Francis’ visit.

More information about the visit will be released progressively to the public at www.popefrancis2024.sg

There are about 243,000 Roman Catholics in Singapore, according to the 2020 census.

Pope Francis’ visit to Singapore is part of a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. He will also visit Jakarta in Indonesia from Sept 3 to 6, Port Moresby and Vanimo in Papua New Guinea from Sept 6 to 9, and Dili in Timor-Leste from Sept 9 to 11, according to the Vatican.

Reports of an Asia-Pacific tour first appeared in January in two Catholic media outlets: America and EWTN Vatican. 

On March 31, Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas confirmed that Pope Francis would visit Indonesia on Sept 3.

Outgoing Indonesian President Joko Widodo reportedly invited the pontiff to visit Indonesia – which has the world’s largest Muslim population, numbering about 242 million – in June 2022, as part of efforts to promote religious tolerance.

The last papal visit to Singapore was almost 40 years ago, when the late Pope John Paul II drew thousands of Roman Catholics during a brief stopover in 1986, which lasted just five hours.

In January 2022, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong was granted a brief audience with Pope Francis during a working visit to the Vatican City. His visit was to reaffirm bilateral ties with the city-state and came a month after the Roman Catholic Church marked its 200th anniversary in Singapore.

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Pope Francis to visit 4 nations across Asia and Oceania in September

By Devin Watkins

The Holy See Press Office announced on Friday that Pope Francis will visit three nations in Asia and one in Oceania in early September.

He accepted the invitation of the Heads of State and local Church authorities to make what will be his 43rd Apostolic Journey abroad.

The Pope is scheduled to depart Rome on September 2 and return on September 13.

He travels first to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, where he will land on September 3 and remain until September 6.

Pope Francis will then fly east to visit Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, and Vanimo on September 6-9.

His next stop will be in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, on September 9-11.

From there, the Pope will travel to Singapore for a 3-day visit on September 11-13.

According to the Holy See Press Office, the full programme of his Apostolic Journey will be published at a later date.

Local Catholic population

Pope Francis first mentioned the possibility of traveling to the region in December 2023.

In an interview with the Mexican broadcaster N+, he said he hoped to travel to “Polynesia” in August and to his native Argentina later in the year.

Then, in January 2024, the Pope told an interviewer with the Italian newspaper La Stampa that he would visit Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia.

Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, and Catholics number over 8 million, or 3.1 percent of the population.

Around 32 percent of Papua New Guinea’s population are Catholic, numbering around 2 million.

Timor-Leste is overwhelmingly Catholic, accounting for around 96 percent of the population, counting over 1 million people.

Some 395,000 Catholics live in Singapore, representing around 3 percent of the population.

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GREETING OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO THE STEWARDS, TRUSTEES AND MEMBERS  OF THE "PAPAL FOUNDATION"

Clementine Hall Friday, 12 April 2024

[ Multimedia ]

________________________________________

Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, Dear brothers and sisters, good morning to everyone!

I am pleased to greet all of you, the Members, Trustees, and Stewards of The Papal Foundation on the occasion of your annual pilgrimage to Rome. During this Easter season, we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection and his triumph over sin and death. Indeed, the stone in front of the tomb has been rolled back, and we are invited to look up at Jesus and welcome him into our lives, and once again say “yes” to him (cf. Homily for the Easter Vigil  30 March 2024 ). In this way, the abiding presence of the Risen Christ will always be a source of joy that no one can take from us (cf. Jn 16:22).

Since its inception, the Foundation has been a vessel of this Easter joy by bringing the closeness, compassion and tender love of Jesus to countless brothers and sisters throughout the world. Your support of various educational, charitable, and apostolic projects enhances the integral development of so many, including the poor, refugees, migrants, and nowadays the increasingly large numbers of those affected by war and violence. At the same time, the scholarships provided to laity, consecrated religious, seminarians and priests from developing nations enable them to pursue studies at Pontifical universities in Rome, at the heart of the Church, and equip their recipients to bear witness to the Gospel more effectively both in their home countries and beyond.

Through these various worthy initiatives, you continue to help the Successors of Peter to build up many local churches and care for large numbers of the less fortunate, thus fulfilling the mandates entrusted to the Apostle by our Lord (cf. Lk 22:32, Jn 21:17). For all of your generosity, thank you very much.

As you well know, your work finds its ultimate source and inspiration in our Catholic faith, which must be continually nourished by participation in the life of the Church, the reception of the sacraments, and time spent quietly before the Lord in prayer and adoration. Let us not forget to adore the Lord. We have neglected this form of prayer and we need to take it up again: adoring the Lord in silence. In this regard, your visit occurs in the midst of the Year of Prayer as the Church is preparing to celebrate the Jubilee of 2025. Through our perseverance in prayer, we gradually become “a single ‘heart and soul’ (cf. Acts 4:32)” with both Jesus and others, “which then translates into solidarity and the sharing of our daily bread” (cf . Letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella for the Jubilee 2025 , 11 February 2022 ). This fruit of our spiritual lives is important for your noble efforts, for although you may never meet them personally, the programs of The Papal Foundation foster a spiritual and fraternal bond with people from many different cultures, languages, and regions who receive assistance. Your service is all the more necessary in our time, marked as it is by a growing culture of indifference and individualism.

I offer my cordial best wishes as you visit the See of Peter, and I ask you to please pray for me. In entrusting you and your families to the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, I impart my Blessing as a pledge of joy and strength in the Risen Lord. Thank you!

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Pope will travel to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore in longest trip of papacy

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Pope Francis will visit Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore in September, the Vatican announced Friday, confirming the longest trip of Francis’ papacy that is sure to test his health, stamina and mobility.

The Vatican confirmed the Sept. 2-13 visit, saying the 87-year-old pope would visit Jakarta, Indonesia; Port Moresby and Vanimo, Papua New Guinea; Dili, East Timor; and Singapore. Further details will be announced later.

Francis’ health has become a source of increasing concern and speculation, even though the pontiff is able to carry on with a rigorous schedule of meetings at the Vatican and even excursions to local parishes.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, had to cancel a planned visit to Dubai late last year after he came down with a bad case of bronchitis. He suffered from respiratory problems all winter and had to curtail his participation in Holy Week events to save his energy for Easter.

Francis has also been using a wheelchair for nearly two years because of bad knee ligaments, and has said that traveling has become increasingly more difficult.

And yet at 11 days, the trip would be the longest of Francis’ papacy, outpacing by a few days some of his long trips to the Americas early on in his 11-year papacy. It will bring the Argentine Jesuit to the world’s most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, as well as the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, where the Catholic Church wields enormous influence.

There is also a chance of another leg to the trip being added later: This week, the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, was in Vietnam and discussed a papal visit, Vatican News reported, without providing details.

In a statement announcing the visit, the Indonesian foreign ministry welcomed the visit and recalled that it had originally been scheduled for 2020 but was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The visit of Pope Francis to Indonesia holds significant importance to the Indonesian people, not only for Catholics but also for all religious communities. The visit is also expected to strengthen the message of tolerance, unity and world peace,” the statement said.

Indonesia is home to roughly 242 million Muslims and 29 million Christians — 8.5 million of whom are Catholics — according to a 2022 report by the Religious Affairs Ministry.

East Timor, which today has a population of about 1.2 million people, is Southeast Asia’s only predominantly Christian nation with the exception of the Philippines. According to the 2015 census, 97.6% of East Timor’s population is Catholic.

The visit to East Timor will likely reignite attention over a clergy sex abuse scandal involving its revered independence hero and Nobel Peace Prize winner. The Vatican confirmed in 2022 that it had sanctioned Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo following allegations that he sexually abused boys there during the 1990s. Belo is believed to now be living in Portugal.

Francis will be the first pope to visit Papua New Guinea since St. John Paul II went there in 1984. The country, in a strategically important part of the South Pacific, has struggled with tribal violence and civil unrest.

John Paul also visited Singapore, in 1986. The country today is home to 395,000 Catholics and Francis in 2022 made its archbishop Singapore’s first cardinal.

In a statement welcoming the visit, Cardinal William Goh, said it “will bring renewed fervor to all Catholics in Singapore, uniting them in faith and mission, especially in these most challenging of times.”

The Vatican has planned only one other papal trip this year — to Belgium to celebrate the anniversary of the country’s Catholic university. Francis has also said he wants to return to his native Argentina , but no plans or dates have been announced.

Karmini contributed from Jakarta, Indonesia.

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Pope francis to visit asia and oceania in september.

Pope Francis greets the journalists onboard the papal plane during the flight back to Rome at the end of his two-day apostolic visit to Malta, Sunday, April 3, 2022. (Credit: Ciro Fusco /Pool photo via AP.)

MUMBAI, India – Pope Francis will visit three countries in Asia and one in Oceania, according to a Vatican statement released on Friday.

Francis is scheduled to leave Rome on September 2 and return to the Vatican on September 13.

He travels first to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, where he will land on September 3 and leave September 6. He will then travel to Papua New Guinea, visiting on September 6-9.

From September 9-11 he will be in Timor-Leste, before ending his Asia trip in Singapore.

There is a large variety of Catholic populations in these countries. Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, and Catholics number over 8 million, or 3.1 percent of the population.

Papua New Guinea has a population of around 2 million, or 32 percent, while Timor-Este is 96 percent Catholic, over 1 million people. Singapore has 395,000 Catholics, around 3 percent of the population.

Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo of Jakarta said the news that Francis will be visiting Indonesia “was received very enthusiastically, not only by Catholics.”

“The first announcement was given by the Minister of Religious Affairs. And during an interreligious meeting during the month of Ramadhan, the Great Imam of the State Mosque Istiqlal also announced the coming visit for the second time,” the cardinal told Crux .

“For several reasons the President of the Bishops’ Conference of Indonesia formally announced the coming visit only on the Feast of Annunciation, April 8, 2024,” he said.

“Actually, Pope Francis had decided to visit Indonesia in 2020, but then arrived the unexpected COVID-19,” Suharyo said.

“We ask our people to pray much for this visit planned in the first week of September, especially for the health of Pope Francis,” the cardinal continued.

“We also urge our faithful to prepare well the visit by deepening the messages of Pope Francis given in different encyclical letters and Apostolic Exhortation such as, Laudato Si’ , Fratelli Tutti , Evangelii Gaudium , and Gaudete et Exultate – on the call to holiness in today’s world,” he said.

Suharyo said the motto of the visit to Indonesia will be: Faith, Brother-Sisterhood, Compassion.

Archbishop Antonius Subianto Bunjamin of Merauke, the President of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference (KWI), said the visit of Francis “will give us, the Church and the nation the positive impact because the Holy Father is not only the Shepherd of the Catholic Church but also the Father of humanity bringing peace and offering mercy.”

“Of course, the visit of the Holy Father is a blessing for the Church and the country,” he said.

“May this visit be a moral and spiritual encouragement for us all to live out the values of Pancasila that are in line with Christian value. May this visit strengthen our sense of ‘fratelli tutti’,” the archbishop said.

the Archbishop of Singapore, Cardinal William Goh, also welcomed the pope’s upcoming visit.

“It has been 38 years since we had a visit from the Vicar of Christ to Singapore, when Pope St. John Paul II honored us with a visit on 20 November 1986,” the cardinal said in a statement.

“It is my hope that this visit of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, will bring renewed fervor to all Catholics in Singapore, uniting them in faith and mission, especially in these most challenging of times,” he said.

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Vatican at a Glance

A trip to moscow for pope francis.

Cardinal Parolin’s official schedule for the trip has not been released yet. It seems certain that the Cardinal will meet both President Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

A papal trip to Moscow is a longtime dream. It dates back to 1990s, when – after the fall of the Berlin Wall and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbaciov’s visit to the Vatican – Pope St. John Paul II hoped that, with a trip to Moscow, he could finally certify his concept of a Europe breathing with two lungs .

That longtime dream trip was never realized. Joaquin Navarro Valls, then Director of the Holy See Press Office, once said that the trip was “an open door as long as it is not closed.” It has been so until now.

The trip was not impeded by political issues. The Pope had been invited to Moscow several times. The first invitation came from Gorbaciov during his visit to the Vatican on December 1, 1989. Gorbaciov’s successor, Boris Yeltsin, invited the Pope when he first met him on December 20, 1991, and after his second visit in February 1998. However, at the end of this last meeting, a spokesperson from the Kremlin underscored that a papal visit to Moscow could only take place after a “careful preparation” and a settlement in Catholic – Russian Orthodox relations.

The issue behind the scenes was that of the “Uniates”, which, in Russian Orthodox  parlance, refers to the Catholics of the Byzantine Rite from western Ukraine, whose church properties had been given to the Orthodox Church after Stalin declared the former outlaws .

This issue still weighs on Catholic-Russian Orthodox relations, especially now that Ukraine is enduring an almost forgotten conflict . The issue burns so much that the Moscow Patriarchate has raised complaints over the Ukrainian situation many times. It even happened during the 2014 Synod of Bishops in Rome , when Metropolitan Hilarion addressed the issue in a speech delivered at the Synod, the main purpose of which was to discuss issues concerning the family.

Pope Francis is well aware of the issue. In an in-flight press conference, he emphasized , “if I were to go to Moscow, I should also go to Ukraine.”

However, the Holy See’s relations with the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate certainly have strengthened.

The first, historical meeting between a Pope and the Patriarch of Moscow took place on February 12, 2016 in Havana, Cuba. At the end of the meeting, the two delivered a joint declaration that the Pope hurried to describe as a “pastoral declaration,” in part, because it conceded a lot to the Moscow Patriarchate in diplomatic terms. For example, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was described as “Uniate”, a term taken from a document from the 1990s , the Balamand declaration. The use of the terms “uniates” created some bitterness in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Out of that meeting, the very peculiar “diplomacy of the relics” was born : following on Patriarch Kirill’s request, a small piece of St. Nicholas’s relics safely kept in Bari left the Italian city and traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg, to be venerated by Russian faithful according to a devotion that dates back to the times of the undivided Church.

This “ecumenism of people” that goes beyond the still open theological issues will be one of the issues at the center of the meeting between Cardinal Parolin and Patriarch Kirill.

The Moscow Patriarchate pursues a pragmatic ecumenism, to be carried forward via an alliance between the Churches against secularization and in defense of persecuted Christians, as well as an alliance on life and family issues. However, other theological issues are still controversial. The theme of the next Catholic-Orthodox International mixed commission on theological dialogue  generated much discussion , as Moscow does not want to talk about the Church of the first millennium, because at that time the Moscow Patriarchate did not exist. The same Patriarchate suffers by being only the fifth in the sinaxis of the Orthodox Churches, though it is the largest in numbers .

Patriarch Kirill took steps toward the Catholic Church, thereby going against the most extremist part of the Orthodox world. The dialogue with the Holy See goes on, and the meeting with Cardinal Parolin will help to foster it.

Cardinal Parolin and Patriarch Kirill already met in Moscow on February 12, 2016, at the time of Pope Francis’s meeting in Cuba with the Patriarch. After the joint declaration, the wounds of the Greek Catholic Church were salved by Cardinal Parolin’s trip to Ukraine, by the Extraordinary Collection for the Ukraine which the Pope launched on Apr. 24, 2016 , and by the most recent Cardinal Leonardo Sandri’s, the Prefect of the Congregation of Eastern Churches, trip to Ukraine.

Cardinal Parolin met with President Putin twice: on November 25, 2013 and June 10, 2015, during the two visits by the head of the Kremlin to the Vatican. In both cases, the geopolitical situation was at the center of the talks, with a special focus on the Middle East and Ukraine.

Speaking to Il Regno , Parolin recalled that relations with Russia date back centuries. He also recalled that Czar Nicholas I paid a visit to Pope Gregory XVI in 1845, and this led to a concordat signed for the Holy See by Pope Pius IX.

The meeting between Parolin and Kirill will fall on the eve of the eighth anniversary of the establishment of full diplomatic ties between the Holy See and the Russian Federation. Full diplomatic ties were announced on December 3, 2009 , after the meeting between the then president Dimitri Medvedev and Pope Benedict XVI.

The turning point in relations between the Holy See and Russia was the meeting between Gorbaciov and John Paul II that took place three weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall. After that meeting, a first agreement was made to re-establish the diplomatic relations that had been interrupted during the Soviet era.

However, as Cardinal Parolin averred, it is since the 14th century that the Rus’ of Moscow and the Holy See entertained relations . In 1472, Pope Paul II blessed the marriage between the Great Prince of Moscow, Ivan III, and the Byzantine princess, Sophia. The ambassadors of Popes Pius V and Gregory XIII regularly visited Moscow, and the Holy See also operated as a mediator in the Livonian War, that took place in 1582-1583 and involved Russia, Poland and Sweden (the mediation was undertaken by the Jesuit, Fr. Antonio Possevino).

Since the 16th century, Russian-Holy See relations were strong and intermittent at the same time. The Holy See and Russia established full diplomatic ties in 1816, though the Russian representatives in the Vatican did not have a Vatican counterpart in St. Petersburg. However, papal envoys were always sent to take part in the coronations of the emperors of Russia.

But following the visit of Czar Nicholas I and the subsequent signing of the concordat, relations came to an halt. As a consequence of the Polish Revolution, the concordat was rescinded, and diplomatic relations resumed only in 1894. The 1917 Russian Revolution changed everything: with no diplomatic relations, only unofficial contacts could take place.

In 1960 the Holy See restored regular contacts with the Soviet Union. In 1967, these contacts were brought to a “stable working level”, and the Soviet Foreign Affairs Minister, Andrei Gromyko, met many times with Popes Paul VI and John Paul II. In February 1971, Archbishop Agostino Casaroli, Secretary of the Council for the Church’s Public Affairs, traveled to Moscow to ratify the Holy See’s commitment to the Treaty for the Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

During the 1980s, the era of perestroika led to the exchange of official representatives between the Vatican and Moscow. The Holy See’s first official representative to the USSR, and then to the Russian Federation, was Archbishop Francesco Colasuonno.

After Gorbaciov, President Yeltsin visited the Vatican in 1991 and 1997. President Putin visited the Vatican for the first time on June 5, 2000, and he returned on November 5, 2003. Between the 1990s and 2000s, Holy See-Russian relations fluctuated because of discussions over the Russian law on religious freedom, but also because of strained relations with the Moscow Patriarchate.

Putin visited the Vatican once again on March 13, 2007, and the Holy See Press Office release that followed underscored that both the Holy See and Russia are willing to further bilateral relations. In 2009 the bilateral relations were elevated to the level of full diplomatic relations.

Now that the dialogue with the Russian Orthodox Church has reached an historic peak, Cardinal Parolin’s trip to Moscow can be considered an additional step in the dialogue. Besides promoting geopolitical relations – Archbishop Antonio Mennini, one of the most important of the Holy See’s past representatives to Moscow, is now working in the Secretariat of State – the aim is that of advancing the dialogue with the Moscow Patriarchate. Greeting St. Nicholas’s relics, Patriarch Kirill said that his meeting with the Pope “was not a unique chance.”

Everything is seemingly working together to foster the possibility of a papal trip to Moscow. Will this be the first concrete outcome of this new Vatican Ostpolitik?

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PAPAL VISIT Saint John, New Brunswick

Formed in 2015 as a recording project between collaborators Adam Mowery and Pierre Cormier, New Brunswick rock’n’roll quintet PAPAL VISIT have a vast and eclectic catalogue, recorded at home studios and rehearsal spaces. WHERE DO THEY SWIM? (2020) youtu.be/nuzakWQsEAI WHAT MAKES HIM WIN LIKE THAT? (2017) www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2hXp6blhQE ...   more

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Pope meets with new Russian ambassador as second Moscow mission planned for his Ukraine peace envoy

FILE - Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, head of the CEI (Italian Conference of Bishops), welcomes parishioners after celebrating Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow, on June 29, 2023. Pope Francis’ Ukraine peace envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, is heading to China on the fourth leg of a mission that has already brought him to Kyiv, Moscow and Washington, the Vatican said Tuesday.. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, file)

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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Russia’s new ambassador to the Vatican met Monday with Pope Francis for a protocol visit, as signs emerged that the Vatican’s Ukraine peace envoy could soon be undertaking a second mission to Moscow.

The Vatican said Ambassador Ivan Soltanovsky was presenting his credentials to Francis, signaling the official start of his term. His motorcade was seen leaving the Russian embassy Monday morning, bound for the Vatican, and returning about two hours later.

Soltanovsky replaced Ambassador Alexander Avdeev, whom Francis met with on Feb. 25, 2022 in a remarkable in-person papal visit to the embassy the day after Moscow’s forces invaded Ukraine.

The credential presentation appointment comes after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in recent days that Moscow was ready to meet again with Francis’ Ukraine peace envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, a veteran of the Catholic Church’s peace initiatives.

“The Vatican is continuing its efforts. The papal envoy will come back (to Russia) soon,” Lavrov said Sept. 15 at a roundtable discussion on Ukraine.

Since Zuppi was appointed in May, he has visited Kyiv, Moscow, Washington and Beijing. Initially his mandate appeared limited to measures to try to reunite Ukrainian children taken to Russia after Moscow’s invasion. But during his meeting last week in Beijing with Li Hui, China’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, the resumption of stalled grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports was also discussed.

Upon his return to Italy, Zuppi said the Beijing meeting represented an important exchange of ideas and he also voiced optimism at Lavrov’s “positive” opening to a second visit. During his first trip to Moscow in June, Zuppi met with Russia’s minister for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, and an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in late March for Lvova-Belova and Putin, accusing them of abducting children from Ukraine. Russian officials have denied any forced adoptions, saying some Ukrainian children are in foster care.

Zuppi told the TG2000 broadcaster of the Italian bishops conference this weekend that Lavrov’s openness to a second meeting was “important because peace is made through dialogue and finding the possible and necessary spaces. It’s certainly a positive declaration and goes in the direction hoped for by Pope Francis.”

Francis has followed the Holy See’s tradition of neutrality in conflicts by trying to keep open paths of dialogue with both Ukraine and Russia. His stance, and admiration for Russia’s imperial past and culture, has at times angered Ukraine , especially its Greek Catholic flock.

Winfield reported from Rome.