Blessings from Pope Francis are sought from the profound to the mundane
The faithful are seeking blessings from the profound to the mundane while Pope Francis visits Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia.
Karen Brady, 63, of Queens, N.Y., will hold a vigil outside the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility near Philadelphia seeking a blessing for her son, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. The pope will visit the prison Sunday at 11 a.m., but she doesn't expect to get inside.
Brady's son Mike died four years ago while incarcerated on drug charges without receiving last rites. Brady, a lifelong Catholic, would like Pope Francis to consecrate the ground where her son died.
“Pope Francis could have gone anywhere in the world, but he’s going there,” Brady told the Daily News. “I feel like he was sent there for a reason, and the reason for me is that he's blessing the ground that my son died on. Just his presence there is a blessing.”
Elsewhere, 2,219 people signed a Change.org petition by 9 a.m. Wednesday asking the pope to bless the D.C. subway system. Trains routinely break down. Schedules run amok. And smoke from a fire in a tunnel killed a passenger in January.
“Bless this mess,” wrote Jennifer Tisdale of Baltimore.
“Let’s be honest, what we really need is an exorcism,” S.L. Keys of Hamilton, Canada, wrote in support of the petition.
Another pitch is for the Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl, according to ESPN. In the city where fans threw snowballs at Santa, Eagles fans started a Change.org petition asking the pope to bless the knees of the quarterback.
The team, which has never won a Super Bowl, will be playing against the New York Jets on Sunday when Pope Francis will hold a Mass in Philadelphia.
“This town deserves a Super Bowl,” says the petition with 6,520 signatures by 9 a.m. Wednesday. “Please sign this petition and Go Eagles and Welcome to Philly, Pope Francis!!!!”
The quarterback, Sam Bradford, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee twice, ending each of his last two seasons with the St. Louis Rams.
"If I got to meet the pope, I think that would be pretty cool," Bradford told The Philadelphia Inquirer with a laugh. "If he wanted to bless my knees, then I'm all for it, I guess."