At 3:30am on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, Father Carl Janicki woke up to board the earliest train from Radnor to 30th Street Station.
It was Pope Francis’s first day in Philadelphia and Janicki, Cabrini’s Director of Campus Ministry, concelebrated Mass with him at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul—the third time he’s concelebrated with a pope.
Janicki had been participating in the World Meeting of Families the entire week, serving as an expert for when the media had questions, especially about Janicki’s focus of liturgical and youth ministry.
The previous day—Friday, Sept. 25—Lisette Hrappman (’18) met a group of 15 students and faculty from her alma mater, Cabrini High School in New Orleans, who flew up to Philadelphia for the Pope’s visit.
Hrappman was excited to reunite with so many familiar faces, including her mom, who is principal of the high school.
The weekend felt a little hectic at first for Katie Briante (’18) (pictured right), who handed out Mother Cabrini 
prayer cards on the Ben Franklin Parkway with other volunteers representing Cabrini.
Because she was wearing an orange volunteer shirt, she was fielding questions left and right, and didn’t always know the answers.
But the feeling of being overwhelmed was replaced with joy when Pope Francis waved to her as his motorcade passed during the Saturday parade.
While everyone was on their own personal journey—whether physical or spiritual—to catch a glimpse of the Pope and bask in the love and compassion that enveloped the city that weekend, together they shared the same electric, uplifting experience.
“Philadelphia was the world’s stage for the Catholic Church, and it had everyone’s attention,” Janicki said.
“All those people were there because of the love and humility of one man who is in the midst of making the world a much better place,” Hrappman said.
“He talked about promoting unity and peace and inter-religious peace, which is what I personally long for. The passion in his voice and the authenticity of his love is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
In one profound memory, Janicki says, they asked for a moment of silence during the Mass, and the Parkway went silent. Hundreds of thousands of people, as far as the eye could see, and no one made a sound.
Janicki, who was serving as a commentator for “Eyewitness News” on the edge of the Parkway, said he and the other three anchors took off their headphones because they thought something was wrong with the sound equipment.
In another moment that stuck with Briante, it seemed that everyone in attendance lifted their voices to sing “Taste and See” during Communion.
“It felt so cool because no matter where people were from or how well they knew the Mass, we were all part of one Catholic family, one human family,” she said.
The almost palpable shift in the hearts and minds of attendees and millions of viewers watching the weekend’s events is perhaps the first step to answering Pope Francis’s call for shared responsibility in caring for each other and for God’s creation.
At Cabrini, the students and Janicki are eager to put the Pope’s message into practice, building upon the College’s commitment to social justice to make a difference in local and global communities.
Hrappman said, “An overall message I took away from the papal visit is the immeasurable amount of impact one person can make through the little gestures of life that foster happiness and faith.”