UI students traveling to see Pope Francis

IOWA CITY - Buses do not make for ideal sleeping conditions. Neither do the cold, hard floors of church multipurpose rooms.

But University of Iowa senior Caitlyn Hagarty isn't necessarily worried about being well-rested when she and 49 other UI students - along with five staff members from the Newman Catholic Student Center at UI - head to Philadelphia to see Pope Francis.

'I don't know if I'll even be able to sleep because of how excited I'll be,” Hagarty, 21, said. 'It's a little stressful right now. But it will all be worth it.”

The group is planning to leave Iowa City on a bus late Thursday and arrive 18 hours later in a Philadelphia suburb, where the travelers will spend the next three nights sleeping on air mattresses at Saints Peter and Paul Parish.

They will shower at a high school and take light rail into Philadelphia to see the pope, who arrived Tuesday in Washington for his first trip to the United States since being chosen to head the Catholic Church in 2013.

After events in Washington and New York, Pope Francis will make it Saturday to Philadelphia for the Festival of Families, and he'll cap his visit Sunday with a papal Mass expected to draw more than a million.

Members of the Newman Center group are among thousands who had been planning for months to make the journey to see the pope before event organizers recently announced that tickets will be required for the pope's Saturday and Sunday speaking events. Tens of thousands of tickets were free and made available online, but snatched up in 30 seconds.

Michael Bayer, director of outreach and education for the Newman Center, was disappointed and launched an effort on social media to snag his students some space within a few blocks of the pope - which is all a ticket promises.

'The fact that ticketing was announced just days before the #PopeinPhilly visit is disappointing, frustrating, and unacceptable,” Bayer wrote Sept. 7 on Twitter.

Another Twitter user began circulating Bayer's need for 55 tickets and asking who 'wants to be a hero here?”

Even a local news station got involved, and Bayer on Sept. 11 announced 'big news!” A Philadelphia resident had seen the plight on TV and offered the Newman Center tickets.

Bayer said seeing the pope is a big deal.

'I think that Pope Francis' message of mercy and love hasn't changed from traditional Catholic teaching, but he's delivering it in a different way that resonates with young adults,” Bayer said.

The Newman Center's trip could provide energy and growth opportunities for its ministry on the UI campus.

'Pope Francis has captivated the imagination of young adult Catholics and the broader public, and his appearance in the United States is an opportunity for these students to be part of a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Bayar said.

For Hagarty, this trip is a pilgrimage. She grew up listening to stories from her mom's trip to see Pope John Paul II in Des Moines in 1979. Hagarty said she's expecting to be spiritually changed by this.

'It's going to be a life-changing journey,” she said. 'I can't wait. There's nothing I wouldn't miss for this trip.”

UI graduate student Samantha Lange, 27, will be hopping on Thursday's bus and said she's excited to not only hear the pope's message in person but to be surrounded by hundreds of thousands of others who want the same thing.

'I felt it was too big of an opportunity to miss out on,” she said.