Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson and Gloria Estefan will all perform for the Pope2 during his visit to the United States3, as New York’s police chief described his tour as the biggest security challenge his city has ever faced.
Bill Bratton, New York police commissioner, said the Pope s visit to the city which coincides with the UN General Assembly will pose the largest security challenge the department and the city will ever face.
An estimated 170 world leaders are due to attend the 70th anniversary UN gathering4.
That s 90 per cent of the world leaders in the city at one time, said Mr Bratton . Just to put a little entertainment on top of it, we have Beyonce entertaining 100,000 people in Central Park as the Pope is leaving.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Thousands of police will patrol the streets, and one officer told The New York Post: We will sweep every tree and bush and frisk every squirrel.
On Sunday it was revealed that at least one plot against the 78-year-old5 had been thwarted.
And on Monday the NYPD, the FBI and the Secret Service ran simulations to prepare for a emergencies including a building collapse, a gunman, bombings and power failure at a hospital.
One reporter asked whether there was any chance Pope Francis could take the subway with New Yorkers.
We hope not, said Robert Sica, the Secret Service Special Agent leading the security team.
And if he does, he better pay the fare, Mr Bratton added . We have strong laws against fare evasion here.
Pope Francis arrives in Washington DC on September 22, and will meet President Barack Obama at the White House and address Congress before flying on to New York .
There he will speak at the UN General Assembly, pray at Ground Zero and visit a Catholic school in Harlem before holding Mass at Madison Square Gardens.
Hudson, Estefan and Harry Connick Jr will perform during an afternoon concert before Mass .
Franklin will then entertain the crowds in Philadelphia, where the Pope will be on September 26 and 27.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Tickets for the events have been allocated through a lottery, but some are being sold on eBay and Craigslist to the fury of the Catholic Church.
Some of the 80,000 entries to the procession through Central Park were being offered for $5,000 although Craigslist was rapidly removing all adverts from its site.
Tickets for events with Pope Francis are distributed free for a reason to enable as many New Yorkers as possible, including those of modest means, to be able to participate in the Holy Father s visit to New York, said Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York.
To attempt to resell the tickets and profit from his time in New York goes against everything Pope Francis stands for.
Chuck Schumer a New York senator, asked anyone who was considering selling their tickets to look deep into your heart.
References
- ^ Follow (twitter.com)
- ^ the Pope (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ United States (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ 70th anniversary UN gathering (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ at least one plot against the 78-year-old (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ telegraph.co.uk (www.facebook.com)
- ^ Follow @telegraphnews (twitter.com)
The post Pope Francis’s visit to New York ‘biggest security challenge the city has ever … appeared first on News4Security.