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Carol Markey didn’t give it a lot of thought when she dashed off an email to U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx a couple weeks ago, asking for a chance to see Pope Francis speak to Congress.

“I wrote a one-liner because I didn’t think I could win anything like that,” she said. “I thought I could stand out in the mob when his motorcade went by. I didn’t have any dream of seeing him up close.”

Meanwhile, Foxx’s aides were bugging her to make a decision:

“My staff kept saying you are going to have to choose somebody,” Foxx said. “I said ‘I am waiting for someone to contact me who really wants to be there and who is the right person to be there.’ “

Markey’s email was simple, but it turned out to be what Foxx calls “divine intervention.” Markey told Foxx that she was a Catholic living in Winston-Salem who had suffered with tonsil cancer and wanted to see the Pope.

“When she told me that in her email, then I decided that that was my signal,” Foxx said.

Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church worldwide, is making his first visit to the United States since his elevation to the papacy in 2013. The last papal visit to the U.S. was in 2008, when Pope Benedict XVI visited Washington and New York. The papal visit that came closest to the Piedmont Triad was in 1987, when Pope John Paul II visited Columbia, S.C.

The pope’s plane touches down in Washington on Tuesday. The pope will meet with President Barack Obama on Wednesday and speak to Congress on Thursday. Flying to New York, the pope will speak at the United Nations on Friday, then finish his visit with a two-day stop in Philadelphia. Of course, the pope will celebrate Mass with the faithful and take part in other religious observances as well.

A chartered bus carrying 55 people will leave from Our Lady of Mercy church in Winston-Salem on Saturday to take people to Philadelphia. The group will attend the papal Mass there on Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the church’s World Meeting of Families.

“It is a pilgrimage, not just seeing the pope,” said the Rev. Carl Zdancewicz, the pastor of Our Lady of Mercy. “People will be praying on the bus and singing songs. It is not just a social event.”

One of those riding the bus will be Deborah Halverson, who plans on taking her two boys with her on the trip.

“I think I am probably in that large group of people who are huge fans of our current pope,” Halverson said. “A lot of people have been inspired by his messages and the things he is saying. We are all prepared to have a life-changing experience.”

Halverson said her 12-year-old, Aiden, realizes the visit will be a historic occasion. As for Kristian, who is 8 — well, at this point he’s mostly excited about the bus trip, Halverson said.

Pope Francis’ short papacy has not been without controversy, with questions such as communion for those divorced and remarried and the status of gays widely discussed in light of papal comments. The pope has not altered any church doctrine, however.

Markey and Halverson, both parishioners at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Winston-Salem, said they’ve heard of the controversies, but believe that Pope Francis wants to reach people with a softer tone than the church has used in the past.

“He cares about the sick and the injured and mostly the poor,” Markey said. “He loves everybody. It does not matter if they are straight or gay. It is the closest thing we will see on earth that represents Jesus.”

Halverson said that as a divorce lawyer, she sees “the pain it causes.”

“It would be wrong to say ‘There is no place for you here.’ “ Halverson said.

Markey said she is “probably cancer-free” though still under the care of doctors. Her sister, Anne Jones, will get to see the pope when he appears at the west entrance to the Capitol after his speech — thanks to tickets for that event that Foxx provided.

Foxx, who is Catholic, said she’s excited about the pope’s visit, too:

“It is an exciting time for our country,” Foxx said. “He is somebody people want to hear and be around whether you are Catholic or not.”
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