Philadelphia prepares for the pope with a festival of cultural offerings

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
By Stephan Salisbury

"St. Francis - The Piazza" by Benton Spruance is in "Woodmere Welcomes Pope Francis: Biblical Art from the Permanent Collection" at the Woodmere Art Museum to Oct. 18.

PENNSYLVANIA---As Philadelphia prepares to welcome Pope Francis this week, its museums and cultural institutions are offering visitors opportunities to engage with religion - and, sometimes, not just one. On view, not surprisingly, are historical documents of the Catholic Church and treasures from the Vatican. But Dead Sea Scroll fragments, an ancient illuminated Quran, a Sumerian tablet, and George Washington's assurances to the Jews of Rhode Island also are out there. [link]

A delegate to the 2015 World Meeting of Families signs a poster drawing of Pope Francis by artist Mark Gaines (CNS). Courtesy of Catholic Herald.