El Paso & Las Cruces Papal Visit Pilgrimages

huge mass in the city of holguin. a crowd of about 150-thousand people listened to pope francis speak. the pontiff heads to the united states tomorrow, scheduled to land in washington, d.c. welcome back to abc-seven at six, i’m estela casas. and i’m rick cabrera. bishop mark seitz is leading more than 160 el pasoans on a pilgrimage to philly to see pope francis this week. the bishop is already back east tonight. he left this morning to philadelphia for a trip he and the other faithful started planning last november: mark j. seitz bishop-“it’s good that we will have the opportunity to be represented there people from el paso in order to express that kind of closeness that we feel to him.” catholics in las cruces are also making their own pilgrimage to see pope francis. abc7-s jamie warren and our new mexico mobile newsroom is live from san pedro mission … … in southern dona ana county with details jamie? jamie? 3 parishioners here are preparing for what they’re calling the trip of a lifetime. they’ll be leaving thursday to see the pope in philadelphia: :09-:16 :45-:53 pkg :35 stories of deep pain as well as great hope sara melton hopes to share those stories with people around the world and members of the pope’s office this week 1:12 immigrants recently arrived and people who have been here historically for a very long time who are pushed on the margins of our community melton, along with other members of the non profit, communities in action and faith are flying cross country to share their message money for the trip was provided by the cafe organization, which pushed las cruces to pass a higher minimum wage. 3:43 i’ve only seen him through the news but this is definitely something i’ve been waiting for for a long time rosa fretwell is a community leader at san pedro mission and has lived in del cerro, between vado and mesquite, for the past 20 years 5:11 i really want to take all these immigration issues that we have in our community and to take their prayers and petions she says the church has collected 50 petions and prayers to give to the pope. like fretwell, melton says she’s hopeful pope francis can inspire positive change 3:13 pope francis is calling us to act against the systems of injustice and act to create a more inclusive world some members of the church will have a chance to speak with the cardinal as well. we’ll follow their journey all week. back to you. jamie, thank you for coverage out of dona ana county.