WASHINGTON — Excitement is building at Catholic University of America ahead of the papal visit to D.C., which will include an outdoor mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception attended by 25,000 people.
“Look around, because — in less than three weeks — the pope will be here, and he’ll be celebrating mass right on the eastern portico of this beautiful basilica,” the Archbishop of Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl said Thursday before celebrating a mass marking the start of the Catholic University school year.
Students say the pope’s visit has created a buzz on campus.
“We’re a very faith-based university, but it’s been kind of like an extra level this year in terms of people going to mass, getting ready for the pope to come, getting really excited,” says Dexie Cercos, a senior at the university.
“Hopefully I’ll be right there,” she says pointing to the open space next to the Basilica.
Catholic University is holding a lottery for student spaces in the standing-room area at the mass.
Cercos says she plans to hold a sign to honor Junipero Serra, who set up missions on the west coast in the 1700s, and converted many Native Americans. Some Native American groups say he did it using coercion.
“I actually want to paint a sign, I’m from San Diego, California, so Junipero Serra was a really important part of California history, so him being canonized is obviously a very big deal, so I’m going to paint a sign saying ‘Californians love St. Junipero Serra’, [and] hopefully that will be something that the pope can see,” Cercos adds.
Pope Francis will celebrate much of the mass in Spanish, which was Serra’s native language and is the pope’s as well.
Only people with tickets will be able to see the mass in person, but it will also be streamed online.
Sophomore Colin Lemnitzer from Connecticut has high hopes of getting a standing-room ticket to the mass through the university. In the meantime, Lemnitzer has been inspired by the pope’s visit to step up his commitment to service.
“People are a little worried about tickets, and how are they going to get in, are they going to be able to see the pope, but there’s definitely an excitement that hasn’t been around, definitely something special,” he says.
“The first canonization on American soil, I think we’re a part of a historic moment and I’m only 19, I think it’s crazy,” he says.
Cardinal Wuerl calls the pope’s visit exciting and uplifting.
“Every moment for months now, we’ve been preparing because there’s always one more thing to do and one more step to take. Now that we’re this close, it’s more a sense of excitement … almost everything’s in place, we’re just waiting for that moment when he arrives,” Wuerl says.
“I think the best part of the visit of our Holy Father is the chance for us to renew our own commitment. Our commitment first of all to nurture our relationship with the Lord, and then the commitment to care for one another,” he said before celebrating mass Thursday.
Wuerl says he hopes the visit is inspiring to the D.C. area.
“We have the possibility of really building a much better world, a good and just society, and the pope will be saying that to us, I’m sure, because he says it all the time.”
