The one everyday thing Philadelphia residents are BANNED from doing while Pope is in town

City is preparing to receive two million pilgrims.

Philadelphia residents have been warned they won't be able to do one basic thing we all take for granted. City officials have told residents to plan ahead as the city prepares to host two million people. 

span style="line-height: 1.22;">LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Officials in Philadelphia are warning the public that people will not be allowed to drive around Center City during the papal visit, unless they are leaving the area.

Anyone who leaves will not be allowed to return by car until the visit is over. The driving ban will begin at 6 PM on Sept. 26 and last through the end of the visit on the 27th. A fairly significant portion of the city will be off-limits to private vehicles, which includes those driven by area residents. 

Officials want residents to be informed ahead of time
because the rule will be strictly enforced. The best way in and out of the area will be on foot. 

Visitors and residents alike have been told to expect to walk at least a couple miles for anything around the city center during the weekend of the papal visit. 

The city expects to be crushed by two million pilgrims in addition to its native population. Even people who are working will have to make exceptional plans to get about so they can arrive to work on time. Streets will be closed and filled with flows of pedestrians. 

Officials also extended a lottery deadline where winners were allowed to purchase train tickets into the city. 

At this point, if a person has not made plans to get into Philadelphia and has not found a place to stay, their chances of now doing so are frightfully slim. Even suburbs and neighboring cities are overwhelmed with the overflow of pilgrims as people are trying to get as close as they can to the Holy Father. 

Thousands of people are expected to clog the roadways, walking into the city on foot. 

Such behavior may seem outlandish and extreme, but there is a long Christian tradition of making great pilgrimages to pay respects to Church fathers and the places associated with the life of Christ and the saints. 

It is through the perils and hardships of a pilgrimage, prayerfully made, that we meet Christ within ourselves and within the people we encounter. In other words, the act of pilgrimage is a sojourn of discovery. On that pilgrimage we can fully expect to find treasure. No, not treasures of gold or jewels -nothing that cheap, but rather treasures of the Spirit. The gift of salvation, a new appreciation for the sacrifice of Christ, the universal acknowledgment that we are all part of the body of Christ. 

While thousands may lament the use of their cars for a weekend, think of the possibility that many of the two million pilgrims who reach the Holy Father may discover the greatest treasure in all existence, Jesus Christ. A complaint for a car is banal by comparison!

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