Green Bay Is Trying To Bring Pope Francis To Northeastern Wisconsin

While Pope Francis has confirmed a September visit to Philadelphia as part of his trip to the U.S. next year, an effort to draw the pontiff to Green Bay is ongoing.

Northeastern Wisconsin is home to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, the site of the only Vatican-approved sighting of the Virgin Mary in this country. Plus, the National Shrine to Joseph is at St. Norbert College.

Christina Pallini hopes that’s enough to draw the pope. She’s on a “Pope to Green Bay” committee, which has collected 4,000 petition signatures. Green Bay’s mayor, Jim Schitt, has also formally invited Pope Francis.

“There’s still that glimmer of hope that he’ll be coming to Titletown,” said Pallini .

Pallini said Green Bay has hosted presidents, candidates, and regularly handles large groups of sports fans, and notes that Pope John Paul the Second visited an Iowa farm in 1979.

“I don’t think that farm field had a lot of infrastructure either,” she said.

Pallini expects the Vatican will finalize the papal schedule in the spring.