Sep 25, 2015 2 min read

People from multiple parishes in Greene County made the trip Wednesday to see Pope Francis in Washington D.C.

The Rev. Francis Frazier and 27 members of St. Ann, St. Thomas and St. Hughes parishes left Wednesday at 5 a.m. and arrived in time for the celebration.

Frazier said many congregation members expressed interest in being a part of the event.

“How often does he come to this country?” Frazier said. “It’s a very historic event.”

This was the first time Pope Francis visited the United States.

The group decided to travel to D.C. instead of Philadelphia because they thought it would be less complicated.

“Which turned out to be true,” Frazier said. “D.C. was kind of shut down.”

For security reasons, many government employees were asked to work from home, which helped clear roads for the parade, Frazier said. The group witnessed the parade the pontiff was in, which started at the U.S. Capitol and ended at St. Matthew’s Cathedral.

The main event was the canonization of Father Junipero Serra, a Spanish missionary during the 1700s. The group watched Pope Francis canonize Serra from their location in the mall where a jumbo videoboard broadcast the ceremony.

“Most of it was in Spanish, but they did translate some of it to the point you knew what was going on,” Frazier said. “We were all very happy to be there.”

Frazier was invited to witness Pope Francis address Congress Thursday, but he was unable to stay because of his responsibilities to the group.

“All the people were quite excited wherever the pope went,” Frazier said. “It was great to a part of it.”