Extasis en La Frontera

Forget the finger-flipping road rage,
smile for the tiny waving palm.

Bobble-hand Pope Francis
figurines for your dashboards
are available at the Madonna Shop.

We got the rosaries,
t-shirts, decals, key chains,
all the official items.

I got six rosaries.

I really like him.

He's giving artisans
work to build him

an altar,
a wooden chair,
a bronze statue,
the stage,
a silver coin.

T-shirts in the crowd:
I heart Pope Francis
The Pope is Dope
Two Nations, One Faith

One person says:
I'm going to set up a food truck
near Chamizal, sell Tacos al Pastor
and a variety of rosaries.

One woman plans
to have her rosaries blessed.

El Punto es inundado por las voces de la fe:
Se ve, se siente, el Papa esta presente.

The Pope says the success
of capitalism cannot come
at the cost of people
and families.

Our kids are the prophets
of the world he says.

We must invest
in them, create opportunity
and not be seduced by profit.

Hay que perder,
para que ganen todos.

Erika, this is beyond
a rock star tour.

It's chaos right now.

A man jumped a fence
at the fairgrounds
to get into the Papal mass.

Meghan, what are you seeing
in the sky? Border Patrol?
The Vatican helicopter?

The people are ecstatic.

He is 20 cars deep.

I am wired, on the mic, John.

The Pope calls the shots
and lets the children rush to him.

People are taking selfies
with the Pope.

TV cameras pan across the silhouette
of the Franklin Mountains
and the black crosses
staked in the middle
of the Rio Bravo
where people fled for their lives
in the desert like the Israelites.

Francis walks up the ramp
blesses both sides of the border
with his slightly tanned hand.

Se le puede besar
el anillo o la mano.

El Papa no defrauda.

50,000 Eucharist wafers
are placed in the mouths
of faithful at the Mass
while millions of spectators
stare and listen in awe.

The giant Mexican
and American flags
fly in unison.

The Pope is on
the Jumbotron.

The violinists look
so sorrowful stringing
El Canto del Santo.

Nothing matters
because the Pope
is on the Borderland.

Today we are overloading
the wireless circuit
transmitting the sanctity
uploading our images
of the Pope to the ether.

No seas egoista.

Nos faltan 43.

Faltan mas de 13,000
en la frontera y uno sabe:

Las lagrimas pueden
causar una ruptura.

We have the gift of tears.

The Pope says
he felt like crying
seeing the hope
in people's faces
in a city with so much pain.

El presidente y la gabiota
meet su santidad
on the red carpet
bid him good bye.

Boarding the Dreamliner
Francis waves
at the sea of rectangular
and gleaming candle simulations.