NEW YORK—Hours before Pope Francis was scheduled to arrive in Lower Manhattan, the streets surrounding the 9/11 Memorial & Museum contained an eerie quiet. It was a vacant morning, with no smells of pushcart eggs or coffee or exhaust. There were only closed off streets, filled with stern members of the secret service and drowsy members of the press.
Slowly, more people arrived on scene.
A crowd of 1,000 chosen from a special lottery, mostly consisting of survivors, first responders, and family members of victims, arrived and lined up to go through comprehensive security checks.
Backs, chests, legs, ankles, buttocks, arms, and arm pits, were checked for potential weapons of any kind. There were countersnipers on surrounding buildings. Pope Francis’s visit to the United States spurred probably the largest security operation in U.S. history.
What was the Secret Service afraid of? Terrorists? Other fanatics?
These fears were certainly real to 9/11 survivors. From immigration reform to the abolition of the death penalty, Pope Francis has long been promoting a deeply human message about peace and unity. And he chose to present this message once again at a place that’s a visible reminder of human nature at its worst.
For many, that made it especially poignant.
