World Meeting pilgrim excited to see the pope

CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- On Saturday Eakins Oval will be filled with the faithful for the Francis Festival - the final portion of the World Meeting of Families, which concludes in grand fashion with a papal Mass on the Ben Franklin Parkway.

By most legitimate assessments, this has been a remarkable event this week in Philadelphia. This is the eighth World Meeting of Families, the first on U.S. soil, and by far a record breaker, drawing crowds twice as large as those that came before it.

"I am so excited to see the pope I can't hardly stand it," says Sue Leary.

She and her delegation from Oklahoma City are having a ball here in Philadelphia, with the World Meeting of Families this week and the pope due to arrive Saturday.

Gail Foster of Oklahoma City says, "It's just been marvelous. People are friendly. The natives we talked to, however, are all leaving the city, which we find funny because we came for this. Figured I'd get closer to him (the pope) than I would in Rome."

And Sue says, "It's fascinating to see a huge city like this being shut down and still mobile, and everybody walking, and everybody being pretty nice."

The World Meeting of Families was fast winding down Friday. This turnout of more than 17,000 pilgrims more than doubles the largest World Meeting of Families turnout. They came from far and wide, and have learned much.

Ruvimvo Loreen from Zimbabwe tells us, "It's really fun to mix up with people from different countries and from different cultures."

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf tells us, "I think that the values that pope has been promoting are really important. I think he's doing a good job, he's done a good job so far in the United States and I hope he continues that here in Philadelphia."

Governor Wolf will be among the dignitaries greeting the pope at the airport Saturday morning, and will be speaking at some of the papal activities.