Students eager for pope's visit

With Pope Francis’ visit just around the corner, papal fever has been spreading through New York City like wildfire.

Jill McGuire’s second-grade class at St. John’s School at 3143 Kingsbridge Ave. was certainly not immune. On Monday morning, the students proudly displayed their “prayer banners,” short prayers written on ribbons. The ribbons are yellow and white, for the pope’s favorite colors.

“It’s exciting, we love Pope Francis. He’s the man,” joked Ms. McGuire. “He’s so down to earth… He’s a refreshing pope.”

Ms. McGuire said she is going to try to show at least one of the broadcasts of the pope’s speeches during class.

“We’re hoping this is a teachable moment on the mission of the Catholic church,” she said.

The students in her class were more than happy to share what they wrote on their prayer banners.

“I pray for the poor. I pray for Pope Francis. I pray for my mom and dad,” read Luis.

“I wrote, ‘I pray for the homeless,’” said Lauralynn.

Maria aid she will travel to Philadelphia this weekend with her family to see Pope Francis speak.

“We’re going to sleep in a gym,” she said.

The students lined up and filed outside to hang their banners outside the school, with help from a few more vertically-gifted students from the eighth grade.

St. John’s principal, Edward Higgins, came out to watch. He said his task has been to keep up the excitement around Pope Francis’ Sept. 24-26 visit. To that end, teachers have been talking about the pope and doing activities like making prayer banners. Students have also been taking pictures with “Flat Francis,” a life-size cardboard cutout of the pontiff.

“We want to promote the pope’s mission of coming here and spreading Jesus’ word, which is love one another. And that’s what we teach here,” Mr. Higgins said.

The principal added that St. John’s tries to embody Pope Francis’ teachings.

“He is loving and he is accepting of people. He’s not judging, he is the example we need to teach to our kids,” he said. “He is still doctrinally strong.”