Pope Francis waves to faithful as he is driven through the crowd, in Mother Teresa Square, in Tirana, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. Pope Francis arrived Sunday in Albania on his first European trip, designed to highlight the Balkan nation's path from a brutal communist state where religion was banned to a model of Christian-Muslim coexistence for a world witnessing conflict in God's name. (AP Photo/Hector Pustina) (AP)
PHILADELPHIA – It took two minutes.
Church officials say the 10,000 free tickets for Pope Francis' speech at Independence Mall in Philadelphia were made available online at noon Tuesday -- and gone by 12:02.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia says the website saw 394,000 unique page views during that time.
In the sought after event, set for on Saturday Sept. 26 at 4:45 p.m., the Argentinian pontiff will address the issues of immigration and religious freedom.
Thousands of other tickets are being given out to parishes with large immigrant communities in an effort to assure a diverse audience.
The pope also is scheduled to appear at two events on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway: the Sept. 26 closing festival of the World Meeting of Families and a Sept. 27 celebration of Mass.
Based on reporting by the Associated Press.
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