What to expect Friday for Pope Francis' visit to New York City

ByMike Waterhouse WABC logo
Friday, September 25, 2015
What you need to know about Pope Francis' visit on Friday in NYC
AJ Ross reports from Penn Station.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Pope Francis has a full day of events planned for Friday in New York City. We have you covered with everything you need to know about his schedule, event information and how all of it may affect your day in one way or another.

First of all, here's the pope's schedule of events for Friday:

8:30 a.m.: Visit to the United Nations and Address to the United Nations General Assembly

11:30 a.m.: Multi-religious service at 9/11 Memorial and Museum, World Trade Center

4:00 p.m.: Visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels School, East Harlem

5:00 p.m.: Procession through Central Park

6:00 p.m.: Mass at Madison Square Garden

(click here for his full schedule)

Eyewitness News will have live streaming coverage as pope events happen. We'll have links our site and our app but most of it will be on this page. Download our app (search for 'abc7NY' in your device's app store) to get alerts at the start of each event.

STREET CLOSURES

Drivers can expect intermittent street closures in and around the Papal Nuncio's residence on the Upper East Side as the pope leaves and returns to the the home he's staying. This area is basically from East 70th Street to East 73rd Street and from Fifth Avenue to Park Avenue on the Upper East Side.

Here's a rundown of other major road closures:

- Midnight: Portions of Liberty and Cedar Street near the 9/11 Memorial will be closed until about 1 p.m.

- Midnight: Portions of 112th Street and 113th Street near Our Lady Queen of Angels School will be closed until about 6 p.m.

- Midnight: Streets from West 61st up to West 77th will be closed from Columbus Avenue to Central Park West will be closed until about 7 p.m.

- Midnight: 31st Street to 33rd Street from Sixth Avenue to Ninth Avenue will be closed near Madison Square Garden. This will be in place until after the event is finished at MSG.

- 5 a.m.: Streets will be closed all around the United Nations building near FDR Drive between East 42nd Street and East 48th Street. They will remain closed until after the day's session is finished.

- 11 a.m.: North bound on West Street will be closed from Battery Place to Murray Street. It will reopen at about 1 p.m.

For detailed information and maps, click here to read our full listing of street closures.

CENTRAL PARK EVENT

Pope Francis' Central Park procession is expected to be a very large event, closing off nearly half of the park. About 80,000 people won tickets via a lottery are expected to attend the event there. The park will be closed from basically 59th Street to West 81st Street from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. The southeast corner of the park will remain open, but the rest will be blocked off.

Click here to see a map of the closed-off area.

EVENT RULES

If you're one of the lucky ones to get tickets to any of Pope Francis' events, you need to know what you can and can't bring with you. The city listed off 20 items that you can't bring, including selfie sticks, alcohol and umbrellas (although the AccuWeather forecast is calling for a rain-free day, with a high of 75).

Click here for the full list of what you can and can't bring.

Note that there are significant security precautions all around the city for these events, including an 8-foot fence and other barriers.

COMMUTING AND OTHER DISRUPTION

Wondering what it's going to be like to commute and get around Manhattan Friday? Here's everything you need to know about public transportation:

- What you need to know if you use NJ Transit during the pope's visit

- MTA bus route changes during Pope Francis' visit to NYC

- Pope's visit expected to make commuting a nightmare

ABOUT POPE FRANCIS

Even with all of the talk and media coverage of the pope's visit, there's so much to know about Pope Francis. We have details here:

- Getting to know Pope Francis' likes and dislikes

For complete coverage of Pope Francis' visit to the United States, check out our special pope section here: abc7ny.com/pope