Pope Francis will be visiting the United States Sept. 22-27. The final schedule is not available, but media can begin the process of accreditation now.

For planning purposes, the pope is expected to participate in events in Washington, September 22-24; New York City, September 24-25; and Philadelphia, September 26-27.

This accreditation process will NOT provide credentials for events at the White House, the U.S. Congress or the United Nations.

If as part of this application, you wish to be considered for a media credential to cover the World Meeting of Families Congress (September 22-25) in Philadelphia, please note that media will be able to access the media center, keynote addresses, daily Masses and breakout sessions as part of the Congress coverage. An approved credential to cover the Congress does not extend to events where Pope Francis is present in Philadelphia or to the media filing center after 1 p.m. on Friday, September 25.

General Information

We anticipate a high level of interest by the general public and by media in the visit. There will be official media centers at each city that is hosting the papal entourage. The media centers will provide a live video feed of public events for viewing, advance copies of official texts and access to a team of experts and media relation officers. Only credentialed media will be provided access to the services of the official media centers.

All events will include space for credentialed media, but not all credentialed media will be able to attend all events. Because of space limitations, a pool feed may be necessary for some events. Because of security and transportation logistics, any one individual can consider being onsite for only ONE public event each day.

Security will be tightly managed. No one without appropriate credentials will be allowed into secured areas at the public events. Therefore, if your outlet is considering guests for booth positions or stand-up interviews in potentially secured areas or inside any of the venues now is the time to be collecting personal information and a digital photo for each. It will be necessary for you to submit an application for all individuals who will be associated with your media outlet.

Due to road closures, security barricades and lack of parking for many of the venues, we are considering bus transportation to and from the Media Center hotels for credentialed media assigned to cover the public events. This is for your safety and convenience, and these buses will be scheduled to accommodate your needs. Once “sweep times” have been finalized by security entities, we will be posting bus movements.

Accreditation Process
Media wishing to cover Pope Francis’ visit and/or the World Meeting of Families must apply to receive a Media Credential.

Media Credential applications will be made through a U.S. Secret Service/Ardian Group Inc. online application process via the following link: https://visit2015.iglobalreg.com/public/apply/mediapublic. The U.S. Secret Service accreditation process involves a thorough and lengthy review of all applications for accuracy and proper security screening.

Media outlets should create one account in the online database, and must submit a letter of assignment that includes all individuals to be associated with that media outlet, signed by a responsible editor or producer. Freelancers will not be credentialed unless they have an assignment from a responsible media outlet.

Once the full schedule is announced by the Vatican, media will be given the opportunity to request access to specific venues. Procedures for this process will be provided at a later date, but venue access will only be available to specific individuals already accredited by the above process.
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MEDIA CONTACT
James Rogers
O: 202-541-3201

Source:: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops