Pope Francis’ Energetic Schedule for His First U.S. Trip – UPDATED

Wow, there’s a lot happening on September 22-27, when Pope Francis makes his first visit to the United States!

The Washington Post offered an exclusive look at the preliminary schedule–with the disclaimer that things could change, this is not the “official” schedule. In fact, even after the Vatican releases the itinerary later this week, there could be last-minute changes.

Here it is, though–the itinerary, as of this writing:

Wednesday, September 23

• Breakfast at the White House
• Meet with Bishops
• Canonization Mass for Fr. Junipero Serra at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
• Photo op with seminarians

Thursday, September 24

•  Address to Congress
• Visit Catholic Charities
• Vespers at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio

Friday, September 25

• Address the United Nations
• Visit Ground Zero
• Appear at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic elementary school in Harlem
• Mass at Madison Square Garden

Saturday, September 26

• Mass at Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul
• Visit seminary
• Speech at Independence Mall
• Speech in front of 1 million at the World Meeting of Families

Sunday, September 27

• Meet with bishops and seminarians
• Meet with prisoners and their families at Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility, in Philadelphia
• Appearance in the Popemobile
• Mass with 2 million attendees at the World Meeting of Families

UPDATE:  As more information becomes available, I liked this analysis from the Portland Press Herald, which calls the trip a “cocktail of religion and politics.” They lumped together three interesting meetings: with prisoners, poor migrants, and disadvantaged youth.