Four historic churches wait to welcome Pope Francis

(Photo: Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images)
Pope Francis’ visit to the USA will include stops at landmark churches that attract both worshipers and sightseers.

In Washington, the pontiff will visit the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. He will stop at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral and celebrate Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.
Here’s a look at some of the history of the Washington, New York and Philadelphia sites:

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.

The colorful tile dome and 329-foot tower of this church can be spotted from across the nation’s capital. It is the largest Catholic church in North America and one of the 10 largest in the world.

In 1910, Bishop Thomas Shahan launched a campaign to build the shrine to honor the Virgin Mary. Pope Francis will visit the site on the 95th anniversary of the laying of its cornerstone in 1920.

The edifice includes the Crypt Church on the lower level, completed in 1926, and the Great Upper Church, which was dedicated in 1959 after delays during the Depression and World War II.


It has the world’s largest collection of contemporary ecclesiastical art; 81 altars and devotional spaces pay tribute to Mary from cultures across the globe.

“Our interior reflects the demographics of the United States,” says basilica archivist and curator Geraldine Rohling. Cultures represented range from the Czech, Slovak and Polish chapels that were dedicated in the 1960s to the Our Mother of Africa Chapel constructed in the 1990s.

In 1968, the shrine acquired the tiara of Pope Paul VI, the last pope to wear the traditional crown. He famously removed it in 1963; proceeds were given to the poor, and donations continue to be given to a papal fund for the poor.

The shrine is not a parish church, but it does hold Masses. It has hosted just one wedding — that of President Lyndon Johnson’s daughter Luci in 1966.

The Great Upper Church is used for special large gatherings, including the annual prayer vigil the day before the anti-abortion March for Life in Washington, D.C., each January and special occasions, such as prayers on 9/11.

“It was very chilling because if you stood on our front steps or you walked in the front steps, you could see the Pentagon burning in the distance,” Rohling says of that day in 2001.

An estimated 1 million people visit the site each year, either to attend Mass or confession or as pilgrims or tourists.

Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Washington, D.C.


The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle is the mother church of the Washington archdiocese. (Photo: Susan Walsh, AP)

This parish was originally dedicated in 1840 at 15th and H streets N.W., but later moved to its current location on Rhode Island Avenue, less than a mile away.

Architect Christopher Grant La Farge, who also worked on the plans of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, designed the Italian Renaissance structure. The first Mass was celebrated there in 1895, but exterior construction continued through 1913, when its cross-topped copper dome was put in place.

In 1939, it was designated a cathedral and became the mother church of the Washington archdiocese after it was separated from the Baltimore archdiocese.

It is best known as the site of the funeral of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The brick and sandstone edifice also was the site of the funeral for Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 2005.

On the first Monday of October, the opening day of the Supreme Court’s annual session, the downtown cathedral hosts its “Red Mass,” which is often attended by justices and which features prayers for legal professionals. The clergy traditionally wear red.

About 2,500 people, including many single young adults, worship there each weekend.

Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia


Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul just celebrated the 150th anniversary of its completion. (Photo: Eileen Blass, USA TODAY)


This brownstone cathedral, completed in 1864, was modeled after the Lombard Church of St. Charles in Rome.

Unlike many other Catholic churches, for almost a century the basilica did not have stained glass windows in its lower level.

“It was a time of anti-Catholic sentiment in the city of Philadelphia,” says the Rev. Dennis Gill, rector of the cathedral. “Because the anti-Catholic sentiment was often expressed by people breaking windows of Catholic churches and burning them down, in order to avoid that happening to the cathedral, the windows were put at such a height so that they would be less easily broken.”

Stained glass was eventually added to the lower section of the cathedral in the 1950s.


The church has ties to several American saints, including John Neumann, the bishop under whose tenure much of the edifice was constructed and who established the first parochial school system in the USA, and Katharine Drexel, a philanthropist and educator who founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who worshipped at the cathedral.

The cathedral also was the official host of the International Eucharistic Congress in 1976, the same year the U.S. bicentennial focused attention on Philadelphia.

“The theme was that the Eucharist satisfies the hungers of the human heart,” said Gill. “It was an occasion for the church to highlight what it holds most valuable.”

The cathedral, located in Philadelphia’s Center City district, continues to function as a parish, with about 1,500 worshippers attending each weekend.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City




St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York draws more than 5 million visitors a year and hosts seven Masses each weekday. (Photo: Mary Altaffer, AP)

This soaring white marble edifice on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, opened in 1879. It was financed by rich and poor alike — from $1,000 donations by wealthy Catholics to token gifts from poor immigrants.

Named for Ireland’s patron saint, it was the second New York cathedral. (What is now known as the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral was dedicated in 1815 and is about 3 miles away.)

The newer cathedral, whose cornerstone was laid in 1858, was the vision of Archbishop John Hughes and was designed by architect James Renwick. Some criticized it as “Hughes’ folly,” but the cathedral ended up as he envisioned, in what has become the heart of the city, near Rockefeller Center, the Museum of Modern Art and the high-end designer shops of Fifth Avenue.


Fundraising delays and the start of the Civil War halted construction from 1861 to 1866. By the time it was dedicated, the Gothic Revival building was the “working seat of America’s largest diocese and the grandest church in the Western Hemisphere,” wrote Charles Morris, author of American Catholic.

Artisan Charles Connick contributed the design of stained glass windows that were installed in the 1950s.

On Sept. 16, 2001, the cathedral was the site of a memorial Mass for the victims of 9/11.

More than 5 million people visit the cathedral each year. Masses are offered seven times each weekday, 11 times on holy days.



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