AUBURN — Doris Ducharme will brave huge crowds in Philadelphia to see Pope Francis later this week.
Asked what she would say to the pope if she got the chance, Ducharme was almost breathless.
“Oh, I’d be speechless!” she said. “All I would do is hold his hand.”
Like millions across the country, Ducharme, 81, is thrilled that the pope is coming to America.
“I think he’s wonderful,” said Ducharme, a widow, mother of four, grandmother of 12 and great-grandmother of one. “He’s down-to-earth. He wants to be among the people. He’s not a pompous pope. I’m very, very excited.”
Half of the crowds that flock to see him are not Catholic, Ducharme said. She follows the pope in the news, and knows he has encouraged people to do more for the poor and to slow global warming.
“We’re all responsible for the environment,” Ducharme said.
She’s going to Philadelphia with her daughter, Rosemarie Vining of Poland. The two are among the Mainers who secured seats on two Canterbury Pilgrimages and Tours buses.
Annette Rioux is the pilgrimage coordinator for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. She’s seen Pope Francis in Rome and Assisi. In Assisi, he celebrated the feast of St. Francis, the saint whose name he took as pope.
“He’s very, very warm,” Rioux said. “He relates to people. He picks up the children. In Rome, he comes out a half-hour early to go around and greet people, to go among the people. People reach out to him.”
Rioux said she’s grateful for his example.
“I think he does what Jesus does: touch people,” she said. “He’s very compassionate.”
Gregory Sylvain of Canterbury Pilgrimages and Tours of New Hampshire said about 100 people from Maine are going to see Pope Francis in Philadelphia. The company is managing a bus from Bangor and Portland, as well as 50 other groups across the country.
Ducharme and the others will visit religious shrines, attend the welcoming ceremony for Pope Francis on Saturday night and the Papal Mass on Sunday afternoon, Sylvain said.
The diocese released Pope Francis’ Apostolic Journey to the United States last week. Those going “will participate in history,” the diocese said.
On Wednesday, Maine Catholic Bishop Robert Deeley will join other bishops when Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Washington, D.C. Pope Francis will meet with President Barack Obama at the White House, only the third pope to meet with a president.
On Thursday, Maine U.S. Sen. Angus King, along with guest Father Michael Seavey of Portland, will listen as Pope Francis addresses Congress.
Pope Francis will leave for New York on Friday, the same day that Ducharme and others will leave the Portland Chancery for Philadelphia.
The pope will say Mass on Saturday and visit the Festival of Families in Philadelphia. On Sunday, he’ll visit a prison, meet with bishops and conclude his trip by saying Mass. Throughout his visit, huge crowds are expected.
“There’ll be big TV screens all over the place,” Rioux said.
On Sunday night, Pope Francis will depart to Rome; Ducharme and other Mainers will head back to Maine.
Ducharme signed up for the trip after learning about it in her church bulletin. She attends Our Lady of the Ransom in Mechanic Falls.
Sabrina Arel, 28, of Lisbon is also making the trip.
“It will be great to be down there, to see what I can see, hear what I can hear,” she said.
Arel attends Holy Family Church, works as an office manager and teaches Sunday school. The pope’s visit is a historic event, Arel said.
“We look up to him,” she said. “It’s like welcoming St. Peter.”
Pope Francis is widely admired
In a Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier this year, Pope Francis enjoyed favorability ratings that politicians would love to have. He’s become an international star.
Pope Francis has a 90 percent favorability rating among U.S. Catholics, and was rated favorably by 70 percent of all Americans, according to the Pew survey.
The same survey found Francis popular among those who have no religious affiliation, 68 percent of religious “nones.”
Anne Marie Wolf, an associate professor of history at the University of Maine at Farmington, said a majority of Catholics are “starving for a pope who seems to put the values of the Gospel at the forefront.”
Pope Francis makes time to visit prisoners, drug addicts and others who are marginalized. He’s praised American nuns for helping the poor and has called for change to heal the man-made climate-change crisis.
It’s been more common, Wolf said, for popes to condemn various people for various things.
“This seems like something totally fresh,” she said.
Economic justice, helping immigrants and the poor and advocating for the environment aren’t new Catholic teachings, she said. What is new is how he’s making those issues prominent.
“Most people really do appreciate how he cares about the poor and marginalized,” Wolf said. “I have students who are non-Catholic. They say, ‘I like this pope.’ He’s not just appealing to Catholics.”
— Bonnie Washuk
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