it is tuesday night and jim is off and i'm brian taff and the big story on "action news" tonight is the pope's journey to america, he is resting now at the vatican embassy, arriving this past hour. the pressure is on for the crews in philadelphia that have just three days to finish building and get that papal stage set. we have team coverage of the papal visit tonight and you'll hear from all of our reports, first we hear from anchors rick williams and monica malpass in washington to kick off our coverage. >> hi brian, thank you. that is right preparations continue at catholic university also home to the national cathedral, preparing for tomorrow's big papal mass, of course the pontiff will preside over it and there is a canonization ceremony tomorrow

as well. brian as you mentioned the pontiff is resting comfortably on massachusetts avenue at the vatican embassy. what a reception he received when shepherd one landed at andrews air force base, to greet him was president obama and his family and vice president joe biden and his family, along with local leader and a small contingent of children. >> tomorrow is the official white house welcome, and there will be a huge ceremony tomorrow starting at 9:00 a.m., part of the pope's busy day, he will be preceding today at 4:15 a.m., the choir is rehearsing behind us for the papal mass and they sound beautiful and angelic.

anna mar is selected for a solo to the pope. >> this is an immense honor, incredible for me, fabulous. i never expected it. >> it is fabulous, he is singing a christmas carol written by a mexican composer and it will be in spanish and we'll have an interpreter for all of you. >> i need one. yes, i do. >> we'll continue to follow every movement the pontiff makes, it's a busy day for hem from the white house to the national cathedral, we'll have the complete report on that and an update on "action news" at 10:00 and 11:00, i'm rick williams along with monica malpass live in washington, d.c. have a good night. >> thanks guys. before traveling to washington pope francis celebrated mass in cuba, he wrapped up his visit to santiago today and thousands gathering

for the mass that was held at the country's most revered shrine. and the pope won't arrive here in philadelphia for a few more days, as you see from our on screen countdown clock, already the faithful are flocking to the city of brotherly love as the world meeting of families get underway. vernon odom is live with the opening ceremonies. >> reporter: the enthusiasm was absolutely infectious, the pilgrims arrived from wide and far. the ribbon cutting from the archbishop on and the mayor the world meeting of families was underway, some 18,000 pilgrims are here from across the world

and across america. >> meeting the pope and meeting people from across the nation that share the religion that i do, meet new people. >> the crowd was brought to its feet by old style gospel music. they greeted them with elegance and warmth. >> if you go home from here renewed by what you experienced and the joy and friendship you find in each other, then this congress will have done the work that god had intended. with the conference of pope francis and the world meeting of francis, this is a special time for all of us. >> many travel the thousands of miles to get here for inspiration and to later see the pope. >> i hope to learn a lot from the speakers, about families and in a sense more on the bible.

>> the zimlets came from alabama with their children know what they wanted. >> the power of being with other people that we know have the same common goals. >> and the goal is? >> salvation. >> brian this is indeed historic and the first time it's been held in the united states, it is a triannual event meaning it happens every five years. >> vernon thank you. lets switch to john rawlins live on the parkway. the festival grounds are really beginning to take shape. >> that is true brian. as you drive through the restricted areas in the city, you see signs of towing and you see the jumbotrons have gone up

and the oval a lot of activity here, it's been transformed. >> an army of workers transforming the oval and some moving around in vehicles and others cutting tree limbs deemed in the way. and others pulling down an enormous aluminum floor that seems to stretch forever, and miles of cables are laid and still to come thousands of chairs and the 100 foot wide stage, crews hanging lights and speakers and the graceful arch roof of the structure designed to frame the art museum. >> the arch is the fancy word for the roof -- >> i guess with had a technical problem there brian, but quite a bit of activity at the oval, no

doubt about it, it's a lot of work going on but everyone very, very confident that they will be ready for saturday, sunday and the pope. live above the parkway, john rawlins, channel 6 "action news." >> should there be glitches we hope they are like you, smooth john. >> now the subject of security, not just for the pope but to protect the hundreds of thousands of people gathering in philadelphia if not more. >> "action news" spoke one-on-one to the special secret service agent in charge, he says that 71 agencies are collaborating for the safety of these events, they run drills with a mock popemobile, and concerns of an evil doer impersonating a police officer to slip through security. >> we are confident that we have the right mechanisms in place to assure our perimeters are not

breached. people should come and enjoy themselves, it's a once in a lifetime event and a chance for the city of philadelphia to showcase themselveses. >> there are 24 check points in all and the secret service says there are no credible threats again the pope or the city of philadelphia. >> and towing is underway at 6:00 tonight, they start an operation to clear cars from 12 and street east to third street. at 9:00 tomorrow morning, cars along these yellow designated emergency routes will be removed from the so-called traffic box, we know there is a ton of information with all of these restrictions taking effect, we put them on one spot for you, go to 6abc.com/pope to see the maps and up to the minute timeline. coming up tonight at 6:00, showing their support, we'll take you into the philadelphia neighborhoods putting their love for pope francis on display and team turn around, the temporary gm gets a perm nants crack at

the job. >> it was sunny and cool, 75 degrees for the last official day of summer, i am tracking two days in the 80s before we cool down. >> that and much more.

we are back with a live look from chopper 6 hd flying high over the ben franklin parkway closed to traffic as we prepare to open our doors to pope francis, and in the matter of a couple of days time, this span

from the oval to city hall is now clarmly empty and will be packed with pilgrims here to welcome pope francis, we are talking about the transformation under way and out lying neighborhoods are taking their own initiative. sara bloomquist joins us live from south philadelphia with the buzz that is building. >> reporter: that is right, south philadelphialling out the red carpet and flying the vatican flag, look behind me across mifflin, this is a traditionally catholic neighborhood and this is the week they will waiting for. the people of south philadelphia are excited to host the pope, outside of row homes and inside of windows they are proudly displaying the vatican flag.

>> i love it. >> this is all catholics, this has always been the same and hasn't changed down here. >> home after home, the yellow and white flags wave in the wind, san rided around with one on his bike. >> i am excited he is coming. >> entrepreneurs knew the faithful would want to fly the flags and they set up pop-up pope shops like this one at schneider avenue. >> the 3 by 5's are $10 and the smaller flags for $3. another stand sits at broad and passyunk, to help people of south philadelphia show their papal pride while of course turning a profit. >> the whole city is earning money. >> i think it's wonderful that

he is coming here, i hope we get a lot of business. >> now, so far it seems the sidewalk flag business is booming but some older catholics told us that they were surprised and even disappointed that there is not even more vatican flags flying in philadelphia, if you decorated the front of the house and have a flag flying share the photos with us on facebook and twitter. i'm sara bloomquist, channel 6 "action news." >> thanks sara. a new sculpture graces the steps of the museum of art to welcome the pope with a message of love, amore's iconic love statue by robert indiana, he created it back in 19 98, it provides a book end to the parkway opposite love park and we encourage you to join us all week for live

coverage, before the pope visits philadelphia. >> rick williams and monica malpass reporting from washington, d.c. and eva pilgram and sara bloomquist will cover the pontiff in new york after in a. and tonight right here on 6 abc, we invite you to watch the first in a new documentary series called urban trinity the story of catholic philadelphia, how it first fought and then absorbed and simulated into how the church evolved into a powerful force in their lives. you can watch that tonight after world news with david muir.

parents in camden are voicing their frustration over state controlled public schools. they protested outside of camden community college where policy makers that support school choice were meeting be members of the community united and were calling for the resignation of the superintendant and want to

stop the expansion of renaissance schools. >> and ducis rogers speaking of frustration, the phillies taking a step to help ease some of that, tonight when they take on the marlins therk have a full flenled manager, pete mccannon has shed the interim tag, the contract calls for a club option for 2017, the phils have gone 30-36 since taking over for ryan sandberg and he was commended for his repore. it's energy level has picked up a bit and i think they recognize the fact that they didn't lay down and we are still try ourg best and working as hard as we ever did. >> week three must win, you

better believe it, the eagles visit the 2-0 jets and the 0-2 birds are a mess. jaime apody has more. >> bradford did not see it coming. >> the coaches analyzed the game tape -- >> we didn't do anything well. >> the quarterback looks bewildered and the offensive line is pushed all over the place and now the line backers are all blank banged up but early in the season there is still a sense of urgency. you start to look the season wholistically and you don't start to panic, you don't want to start 0-2, though they beat andrew luck and the colts on the road, they are 2-0, is it daunting thinking about this game? and the possibility of going

down 0-3. >> daunting? no, we are prepared to win. >> i don't care who we play i am not afraid of anybody in this league. >> they are a good team, but i don't think we look at it like that, for us it's the next one and we are all biting and scratching to get a win and winning solves everything. >> jaime apody, channel 6 "action news." >> better win. finally tonight, back to baseball, it's tradition for veterans to take on the rookies, and they had to dress up for 80s style for their trip to miami, herrera posted this gem on social media, this is enough to make olivia newton john take all of her leotards out of her closet. >> you have anything like that? >> not that i'm telling you

about. young children in philadelphia had help with their education, there was a ribbon cutting an the trail library, volunteers from atlantic city electric built the trail back in june. more kids are suffering from asthma

and we still have no limits on carbon pollution which can lead to more asthma attacks in children but senator toomey has voted repeatedly to let polluters keep releasing unlimited carbon pollution into the air. and took more than one million dollars from the polluters. tell senator toomey to vote for the clean power plan, because unlimited pollution shouldn't be a right. but playing outside should be.

all right meteorologist, cecily tynan, is here with the forecast, we have breaking news in the forecast, sun is breaking through. stormtracker 6 live double scan showing that it's dry out there and we have had two days of pretty thick cloud cover, i want to show you this live shot on

sky 6 hd center city skyline and finally high pressure is beginning to nudge in and break up the clouds and those clouds will generally be clearing out in the overnight hours, it's about time we see sunshine, the accuweather highlights shows we are clearing out and we'll be seasonably cool as we welcome in fall of 2015, the skies are clearing and down to 59 degrees in philadelphia and 58 is the normal low and seasonably cool and some of the northwest suburbs, allentown and reading and temperatures dropping down into the upper 40s, feeling like fall that is appropriate since the autumnal equinox occurs at 4:21, this is one of the two times of year where most the world sees 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness all except for the polar regions. down from our high of 75, close

to where we should be. wilmington 71 and sea isle city 70 and trenton 68 degrees, satellite 6 along with action radar showing the cloud that are persistent for two days, the cloud deck is nudging towards the east and there is low pressure meander off the coast of south carolina and that low pressure is sitting there and spinning right through the week and right through the weekend. so this is really something we are tracking at this point, it looks like the coastal low will stay down to the south, there is a 30% chance that the rain line pushes north enough to get some showers in philadelphia. 30% chance, a much better chance, i'm putting it at 37% chance that this high pressure in canada will keep control and keep low pressure to the south, that means the weekends are cool and we'll see clouds and it will be dry, so the papal weekend forecast, if you are headed to

the parkway, you will want a jacket. clouds both days and saturday 73 degrees and winds from the east at 20 miles per hour. with a high of 72 degrees, with lots of clouds, the exclusive accuweather seven-day forecast, bright and sunny and relatively warm for the first day of fall. a cold front moves through and temperatures drop back into the 70s and friday clouds mixing with sun and this point papal weekend looks dry and lots of clouds and breezy and cool and 72 on sun, up to 75 degrees on monday and tuesday it gets warmer with a high of 77, and temperatures in the 80s and we start to cool things off. >> sounds good cecily, thanks very much, in honor of pope francis's upcoming visit, hundreds of students are giving back and members of the holy cross school took part in the

day of service, they sorted canned goods, and students picked up trash outside of that school and cleaned up the gym. abc's world news tonight with david muir is next on channel 6, join me for "action news" at 10:00, and then join us here for "action news" at 11:00 with cecily tynan, jim gardner and the entire "action news" team, i'm brian taff we hope you will join us at 11:00.

tonight, a special edition of "world news tonight," hope francis arrives in america. our team right there, his historic first trip to the u.s. one of the largest security operations ever here. from washington to new york to philadelphia. after the pope told us, his message for the american people. also tonight, one-on-one with ben carson. the outrage and the support, after what he said about electing a muslim president. what he's now telling us. the scandal tonight affecting millions of cars on american roads. volkswagen admitting to rigging tests, 11 million vehicles. what now for the value of your car? the abc news exclusive. the county clerk refusing marriage licenses to gays. tonight, why she says the licenses handed out now are not valid. and getting answers tonight. the life-saving drug that cost $18, suddenly costing