The first official physical pop-up store for the 2015 World Meeting of Families opened Wednesday in the lobby of the Aramark building at 1101 Market Street in Center City.
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Free tickets to Pope Francis’ speech on immigration and religious freedom at the Independence Mall were snapped up in two minutes on Tuesday, and not long after some were being sold online for hundreds of dollars apiece.
All 10,000 free tickets the Archdiocese of Philadelphia made available for fans to attend the Papal Mass on the evening of September 27 were gobbled up Wednesday night in 30 seconds. At least one website was distributing unofficial tickets that aren’t going to get you in.
Some people are asking for as much as ,000 for a pair of tickets for the event, which is really just an opportunity to see the Pope’s motorcade swing by.
Farrell fielded questions from local media for an hour, reflecting a growing chorus of concerns by residents and visitors over difficulty accessing the papal events.
“Update: grab your tickets now, eBay is not allowing them to be listed and Craigslist will probably follow suit!” said one Craigslist seller in Rockland County, New York, offering tickets to the Central Park event for US$400 yesterday.
Getting to and around Philadelphia will operate as it normally does from Monday through Thursday, with restrictions and road closures beginning at 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 24 and increasing on Friday.
In Philadelphia the next day, Francis will address the 10,000 people with a message on marriage and family as part of a “World Meeting of Families” gathering. “Scalping of tickets to papal events is shameful and reprehensible”.
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Tickets are being distributed primarily to parishioners in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, plus surrounding dioceses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
