Welcoming Pope Francis to the United States

Today is the day we have all been waiting for! At 4:00 PM Eastern, Pope Francis will land at Andrews Air Force Base to begin his five-day, three-city visit to the United States. His visit will be filled with amazing highlights: speaking to a joint session of Congress, addressing the U.N., canonizing Junipero Sera, visiting with and celebrating the concluding Mass for the World Meeting of Families. He will be eating with the poor, visiting children at an inner city school, and praying with inmates. The media will be everywhere he is.

The Internet and Social Media have been full of stories leading up to this historic event and we can be sure that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. will be filled with #PopeinUS as thousands of people hear and see him in person, on TV, and online.

Evangelizing Parishes Will Embrace this Opportunity for Proclaiming the Good News Online

Ministry Leaders can use the power of the Internet to bring the impact and blessing of this visit to their own local community and to engage people outside the Church in our life and mission in a number of ways.

On Your Website:

• Acknowledge the Holy Father’s visit on your website-either by posting a photo of Pope Francis or one of the Logo graphics provided free by the USCCB.
• Provide links to one of the sites that will live steam the Holy Father’s events and also provide on-demand videos of the same. Here are two sites you can use:
  • The United States Conference of Bishops 
  • EWTN
• Promote use of the new and free USA Catholic Church mobile app from the USCCB to access news about the Pope’s visit as well as their live streaming of the Pope’s events. Learn more here.

On Social Media

Make time this week to work your Facebook and Twitter sites to share with followers the #PopeinUS experience. Some approaches:

• Announce the events you want to highlight as they are about to happen or have started. Provide links to the live streaming.
• Share articles or posts that provide interesting background on the Pope’s time with us. America Magazine has a website devoted to this type of content. as does Our Sunday Visitor.
• Follow Facebook Pages that will be posting about the events and share those. Suggestions:
  • Catholic News Service
  • Catholic News Agency
  • Zenit News Agency
  • James Martin, SJ
• Search the hashtag #PopeinUS on Twitter and retweet what you like.
• And finally, post what you see, like and learn from any or all of the Pope’s events.

There is plenty to do this week to keep up with Pope Francis. You may not be able to do everything, but please do something online to celebrate and connect with this historical event.  And let us all pray for our Holy Father’s safety and well-being. Pray, too, that his words and actions will bring everyone in America closer to the merciful God who loves us all.

How are you helping your online community experience the blessing of the papal visit this week?