Organizers of the World Meeting of Families changed course and said tickets will be required to get within five blocks of the altar on Sept. 27.
Lydia Roque wasn't getting excited Thursday about organizers' requirements for tickets to the papal Mass in Philadelphia later this month.
Roque, parish secretary at Holy Infancy Church in Bethlehem, said folks were staying positive and avoiding an outcry -- even though organizers up until Wednesday had said no tickets would be needed.
"Someone this morning told me that it doesn't bother them," Roque said of the change. "She said as long as I can be where the pope is at and breathe the air that he's breathing, it's OK. They'll be in the area where he's going to be.
"To me, that's what I call faith."
Organizers of the World Meeting of Families on Wednesday said tickets will be required to get within five blocks, or about a half-mile, of the altar on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Sept. 27.
The same requirement will be in place when Francis attends the closing ceremony of the Vatican-sponsored World Meeting of Families a day earlier.
RELATED: Allentown bishop hopes Pope Francis visit inspires youth
The tickets are free and being distributed to the 219 parishes in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, as well as surrounding parishes in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
The Diocese of Allentown is only getting 200 tickets for Sunday's Mass and 200 for Saturday's World Meeting celebration, said spokesman Matt Kerr.
That's problematic for the faithful from the Allentown-area who may have hoped to get a close-up view of the pontiff.
Fifteen parishes in the Allentown diocese are planning on ferrying about 1,100 people to the papal Mass on 32 buses, Kerr said.
The diocese learned of the about-face on tickets in a letter Monday, Kerr said. Now officials are trying to figure out how to distribute the allotment.
"We're still working that out," Kerr said Thursday. "It's going to be some kind of drawing. It's the only fair way to do it."
Those who have a bus seat for Sunday's Mass will be in the running for that day's allotment of 200 tickets, he said.
"If you're farther away than you had expected, you're still there for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, in the presence of the pope," he said.
"We hope that's how people still feel about it. This does not preclude anyone from going who intended to go. From what I understand, the great majority of the parkway -- 85 percent -- is still open to the public."
Forty huge TV screens will capture the events for those not close to the stage or altar.
On Thursday afternoon, the Philadelphia archdiocese said it would make available an additional 10,000 tickets each for the World Meeting festival and Mass. World Meeting organizers also said Pope Francis would parade along the parkway Saturday and Sunday.
Miguel Perez, who belongs to Notre Dame of Bethlehem parish, said he wasn't going to let a few city blocks get in the way of his pilgrimage.
Perez, 50, plans on attending a World Meeting workshop Thursday and the papal Mass on Sunday with wife Lisa and 17-year-old daughter, Liah.
"It's going to be holy ground regardless of the distance," said Perez, of Bethlehem Township. "Whoever is faithful and understands what is going to happen during the Mass will probably have no objection, whether they're five blocks away or in the front row.
"If you are serious about what is happening at the Mass, it really doesn't matter. For many people, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jim Deegan may be reached at jdeegan@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @jim_deegan. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook.
