Youre watching nbc 10s coverage of the pope in philadelphia. God bless america. His first trip to america. Pope francis embracing all who come to see him from washington, new york city and today he arrives in philadelphia. In less than three hours. Good morning, welcome to nbc news 10. The wait is almost over. Its been unbearable. Were now just about 3 1 2 hours away from the pope touching down. Actually 2 1 2 hours now from the pope touching down in philadelphia. Here is a look at sky force 10 overlooking the vine street expressway. You see the school buses, they have a Police Escort in front of them. Those buses no doubt are headed over towards the basilica that will be filled to capacity in about three hours. Probably less than that because these folks will all be gathered the there, the matter of time that it takes them to get over this bridge and into the parkway. Now lets show you a live picture above the art museum. The stage is up, security set for the world meeting of families concert on the parkway later this evening. And here is a live look at the ben franklin bridge as i dont see any people walking over. Of course its shut down for vehicular traffic today and over the weekend. But people will be parked over on the camden side and they will make their way across the bridge on foot as they come to see the pope today. Good morning. In the forecast for today, cloudy and dry. So the good thing is that most of our rainfall is going to stay to the south of our area. We are going to see breezy conditions as we head into the rest of today. So it will be on the cool side, a little bit below average for us. But there is the rainfall again south of our area and we expect to stay there as we head into the rest of today and into tomorrow. There is a live look at the ben franklin bridge. It is closed today and tomorrow for philadelphia. Mostly cloudy skies. A cloudy start. 63, our humidity at 72 . Wind speeds out of the northeast at about 10 Miles Per Hour. Temperature it is kos in your 7 at 63, things warm up late morning hour, 70 by 11 00 a. M. , we push to 75 by 1 00 p. M. And as youre lining up for the address, expect temperatures closer to 75 and temperatures at 7 00 p. M. As youre heading home or maybe still out and about at 70 degrees. One thing to point see breezy conditions. Wind gusts will be closer to 30 Miles Per Hour. Ill have more details on what you can expect tomorrow, as well. We expect to see similar conditions. Ill break it down coming up. Now lets break down the closures. Youre looking at the art museum, but we can tell you that 76, scheduuylkill excespressway closed. Vine street expressway and admiral wilson boulevard from ben franklin bridge and ben franklin brenidge closed to vehicular traffic. It is a pedestrian bridge between cam dozden and old city. If you are in the philadelphia suburbs and youre taking septa, you will need a very important papal purchase that you had to have purchased a while back. Youll need to have them, you should already have them. If youre using them, you just complaint show up expecting to buy one these because theyre not for sale any more. This morning nbc 10s Deanna Durante is live for us at the Fort Washington state which is one of the septa stations bringing people to center city to see the pope taoday. People have been coming and going throughout the morning. Reporter they have. As early as 5 30 this morning. Actually 5 29 this morning is when 29 people boarded that first train for center city. Take a look. You said that you cant get on the train. You cant get into the septa station here without that papal pass. People are lining up here in the parking lot. You see the volunteers Milling Around with the yellow vests. The rest of the people are passengers that are lining up here. They are checking their tickets, making sure that they have the papal passes. If you see a little bit to the right of the tent, because we are on the platform across, there is a cardboard cut out of proefs, ma pope francis, many people taking pictures. Another train is coming here in just a minute. We are at train number 5 this morning. Just under 200 people, i need to correct myself from last time, boarded the trains already for center city. A woman was almost in tears, she was on excited to head into the city. You will hear from her in just a little bit. Shes from the ambler area. And shes attending the papal mass at the cathedral. But first i want to introduce you to the kings. Youre waiting to board the train. How long have you been awaiting . Maybe about ten minutes. Theyre moving fine. Park was great. Great support from the police and septa people. Its terrific. From are y from. Are you excited . Excited beyond belief. Weve never seen the pope before. This is the first for us. And what made you decide to go down today and what events are you hoping to go to . Well, today were going to the family festival and we have tickets tomorrow for the papal mass. And what made us decide to go is because we love this pope. Just love him. And we are pretty devout catholics and it seems like the right thing to do. And this is one of the biggest trains for ticketing. We live less than five hi minutes away. Parking was a breeze and were just looking forward to a great weekend. Well, enjoy yourself. If you get close to him, if youre able to say anything, what would you say . Pray for me. And my family. Thats it. Thank you so much for your time. Enjoy your day. Again the crowds are getting bigger over here. They will come over here in just a minute. And were waiting for train number 5 that will take people into the city. Thats the very latest reporting live from Fort Washington, deand that Deanna Durante, nbc 10. Usually when ive talked to people that have had the opportunity to meet the pope, thats what he says, pray for me. So 9 30 is when the popes plane is expected to touchdown. Red carpet of course will be rolled out, but hes not flying into the airport like you and i would. No, hes flying in to Atlantic Aviation, a separate terminal at the airport that has been there since the 1950s. Its usually used for corporate or charters going in and out of there. All the four major sports teams all use it. This is the same terminal that the president uses when he flies in to philly for visits. And when the popes plane lands here, he will be greeted by the archbishop, Governor Wolf and his wife, mayor nutter and his wife expected to be there as well as the members of the world meeting of families board. And you talked to the general manager and hes pretty excited. Yeah, John Butterworth says hes execute the his executive privilege and hell be the guy driving the stairs right up to the 777 when it shows up. So that will be in just a few hours from now. And the excitement of course over his visit is building. Lets go out to the ben Franklin Parkway this morning. Katy zachry is live there for us. What is it like where you are . Reporter its great to see you all. It is a bevy of activity where i am. Im in a media center which is smack dab in the middle of the ben Franklin Parkway right in front of aikens oval. In fact behind me over my right shoulder, what a view we have of the main stage. The area in front of the Philadelphia Museum of art as you can see has been utterly transformed. Of course this is where pope francis will hold that highly anticipated mass tomorrow afternoon. And before that it will serve as the main stage for the festival of families which begins today and it continues tomorrow. Begins in just a few hours. This will be the area where musicians and performers will take stage. The festival of families is expected to attract hundreds of you thousands of people as we heard from deanna, people are already at the suburban train stations getting on those Regional Rail train, coming into philadelphia to enjoy the festivities. As i said, im in a separate media area on the ben Franklin Parkway. But it is a bevy of activity all around me. And ill have pictures for you coming up in just a little bit of all that is going on outside of us. Back to you. Well, our coverage of the pope in philadelphia is just getting started. All weekend long, we have you covered on air and online to bring you everything you need to know. Here is a live look from sky force 10 flying around checking on the crowds. Wow. Those are crowds waiting to get through security at the constitution center. Chris cato will be there later today. And he was telling me yesterday that the gates open there at 6 00. And they have entertainment all afternoon prior to the popes speech. Make it for certainly occasions like the 75th an verniversary oe bridge. So today same thing. In fact over the weekend. After the pope touches down, he will head to center city. And he will celebrate mass of the cathedral about a silica of saints peter and paul. Tim furlong is live there. Reporter exciting day here for this Catholic School kid. Its finally our attorney to get a glimpse of the pope. It will be an interesting day here to see. Thousands of people are already here. Our bus pull up about an hour ago and people were still waking up, they had been sleeping here all night, everybody excited to see the pope. The mass inside is not for everybody, its about 1600 people. Mostly parishioners and clergy from the archdiocese of philadelphia, heads of the church from around the state of pennsylvania will be here in this church. But it will be just an exciting day. The place has been cleaned top to bottom. If youve never been in the basilica, you should do it. Not today mind you. But try see how beautiful it is inside. But it is an old church and they have had to do things to update it. They have rewired the entire place, they have a brand new sound system for the pope, a High Definition camera system. So basically theyre doing a lot of things to make this place shine in anticipation of the popes visit. And everything they have done to the church will all stay here after the pope leaves. But again a very exciting day here at the cathedral. When we come back, well try to show you around a bit. But again at about 10 00 the pope will pull up in front of the cathedral and well have it for you live. Tim furlong, nbc 10 news. And we just got a picture of the creucifix that the holy father will be presented with. And here is a live look overseeing the ben Franklin Parkway. Not a lot of foot traffic, not a lot of car traffic there right now, but that will all change in the next couple of hours. With the card most accepted in the philadelphia region, you have the compassion and security of blue cross. Giving you the power to do more. Independence blue cross. Live fearless. We all know the pope is coming, but did i mention that there is also security involved in this operation . Were taking a live look in Franklin Park way. Actually that is the ben franklin bridge it appears. Toll booths there where they are allowing people to walk through for the next couple of days. And as weve been telling you, be very aware of the things that you bring and should not bring because they will check it, they will keep it. They will not let you through those barricades or those barriers with selfie stick, bicycle, a number of other things. Weve been showing you the live pictures along the ben Franklin Parkway showing the security that you have to go through. And here we have this bag, this is you dont want to take a bag that is bigger than this snap sack. Because you wont get through. Yeah, what is difference about it, you can see everything that is in the bag. Its clear and small. That will get you through fast. We have a complete list of the things that you cannot take that you will be turned away at security if you really must take it with you. Youll be turned away on our nbc 10 app. So check that out. So this isnt the first time a pope has visited philadelphia. 1979, Pope John Paul ii was here saying mass in logan circle. And Jerry Ruggles was there to cover, a young cub reporter back then. I was. Does it seem like its been 36 years . Yes, if doe rk, it does. I love his honesty. There are comparisons and some differences. We have Atlantic Aviation and thats where john paul ii came in and rather than Governor Wolf, there was governor thornburg pack then and we had mayor rizzo and his wife and Paul John Paul gets down and comes up to the entrance and the mayor knelt and kissed his ring. Governor thorpburg however just shook his hand. And they got in the press truck and we were in the press truck going up ahead of them up broad street. And as we went up broad street if i can relate this, we were supposed to go at 5 miles an hour because there were literally hundreds of thousands of people on broad street. But someone saw a window open, the secret service was afraid and they went up broad street at 30 Miles Per Hour. You talk about some unhappy people on broad street who got to see the pope in the blip of an eye. And then he was supposed to get into limo after he came out the door and he just walked over. So all of a sudden people are saying the pope is coming, the pope is coming. Security much dirt. And were taking a look at a picture of john paul murray, a baby blessed by the pope. Ive been watching and a couple things i wanted to bring up of what weve talked about. We were talking about the weather and brittany talking about a cloudy day. This is actually a plus. I had lunch with derrick sawyer, the fire commissioner for the city of philadelphia. Very, very concerned about the people here and the heat because so many people will be elderly people. And theyre really worried about the problems that heat creates for elderly people. So the cloud cover is going to be a plus p. And they have all that water, too, which is really helpful. Absolutely. And then they showed the ben franklin bridge. That is a 2 mile span just walking the bridge is a 2 mile span. So people who are coming from the jersey side and going to the campbells baseball parking lot there by the aquarium still have a 2 mile walk just to getting across the river. So there are some challenges here and fortunately Mother Nature is working things right for the conditions. We saw the medical tents that we showed in the live shot sky force 10 a little bit earlier. So i think they have planned as much as they possibly can to it take care of issues like that Peoples Health and age. Well, there has just never been an evendeavor like this before. This is an National Secret select something event. But what it means, the secret service is in charge and as soon as that is declared, the secret service is in chanlg in charge everything. This is the largest secret service has ever done. 100 city square blocks. And more than 70 agencies that theyre coordinating. Exactly. Its a big deal. So First Washington and then new york and now were talking philly. Every stop pope francis makes in america is one for the history books. This is the popes first visit to the u. S. During his lifetime. He is the fourth pope to visit america and the third to meet with a u. S. President during a trip here. Now, the others were Pope Benedict and st. Paul, john paul ii, the last pope to visit philadelphia was st. John paul ii back inning on the of 1979. He celebrated mass with an estimated 1 Million People at logan circle. And we are how just more than two hours away from the popes arrival in philadelphia. All weekend long, well be bringing you complete coverage of the papal visit including how to get you around. Speaking of getting around, here is a live look at 95 vine street expressway. There are a number of closures that you need to know about. Well cover those coming up. You can also find a list of the road closures on our nbc 10 app, a free down load. As we continue our coverage of the monpope in philadelphia, a e picture from the ben Franklin Park and i. People going through security. You should arrive at the basilica a little after 10 00 this morning. Hes still in new york. Were trying to get you a live picture from when he takes off from new york and arrive at the Atlantic Aviation. And today will be a historic day for the city of philadelphia. Millions expected to flock to center city to see pope francis who arrives in about two hours. All week long people have been pinning their prayers up outside the basilica cathedral of saints peter and paul. Rosemary connors is live at the Embassy Suites on the 18th floor overlooking the ben Franklin Parkway. Reporter tracy and vai, we have a birds eye view. Quite a few people have started to line up along the gates. And also on the grounds of the basilica is a knotted grotto. The sister heads the world meeting of Families Committee on hunger and homelessness. I spoke to her earlier this week in washington. She had tickets to be on the lawn of the white house during the official state welcome in washington. She told me that she along with the tens of thousands of people who have tied those ribbons on to the grot tto, they are all hoping the pope will bless the grotto when hes here, the first opportunity for that may happen before 10 30 this morning when the pope is at the basilica to say the private mass. Just to give you some pack ground, first of all, the ribbons express peoples struggles. So as you mentioned peoples prayers, what they hope that pope tran sis will be able to bless when he comes through here. Also i should tell you that the g grotto was inspired by the pope himself. He has a deep devote to the blessed mother and other parts of the world known as mary, the undoer of knots. People hoping the pope will pass by them along the fated sidewalks, that he will police them and of course bless this grotto. Rosemary connors, nbc 10 news