Action News in Rome: Local leaders visit Vatican as pope's Philly visit looms

ROME, Italy (WPVI) -- It seems almost hard to believe, but Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia is only 95 days away.

For the city's faithful, and for those who are just eager to bear eyewitness to a figure who has already risen to icon status, that may seem like a long way off. But for those planning his visit and the World Meeting of Families that's bringing the Pope to Philadelphia, its coming up fast. And that's exactly why they are now in Rome.

"I think a lot of the nuts and bolts really get tightened up in these last 100 days," explained Donna Farrell.

Farrell has a very full plate. As Executive Director of Philadelphia's World Meeting of Families she is responsible for overseeing every facet of papal planning - from the logistics of getting Pope Francis around the city, to ensuring that the city is ready to host him.

And with just three months to go, she says the next three days are vital.

Farrell tells us, "This visit to Rome is so important. We've had visits to Philadelphia from Vatican delegations, but it was very critical that we come here and meet with them and say, number one, here's where we are with our planning: we're ready and we're going to be ready in September. Two, we want to get everyone excited."

Over the coming days Farrell will join Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, Mayor Michael Nutter and a delegation of more than thirty civic, religious and business leaders to hammer out the final details and make some major announcements about what all of us can expect back home.

For the Springfield native who served as an usher when the last Pope came to town, it's a 'pinch me' moment.

"Sometimes I say to myself, 'How did this happen?' But boy am I grateful that it has," she said.

So is Philadelphia's mayor, Michael Nutter... even if he isn't quite sure how it happened.

The mayor says, "To this day I don't exactly know why they picked Philadelphia. But as we've now talked to the folks who are in charge of the event, they clearly saw Philadelphia as a great city of faith, a city in a state founded on the fundamental principles of religious tolerance."

Michael Nutter, staring at the end of his 8 years in the mayor's office, is openly reflective when it comes to the magnitude of September's World Meeting of Families.

For him, it will serve as a kind of capstone for his years of public service. For both him, and those that experience it, it is much more than a weeklong event.

Nutter says, "This will be an event that folks will remember for a long, long period of time. This is something that people will be talking with their kids and grandchildren about, and for our city to be that center place for this kind of event, you know, I'm good with that."

And so here he is in Rome once again, to dot the i's and cross the t's in a planning process that's slowly winding its way from point A to the Papal Visit.

"Oh I mean, if we're going to stay with the alphabet, we're fairly far down. We're past M," the mayor said with a laugh.