50 years of Americans treating popes like rockstars: In pictures

The crowds, the parades, the papal cakes!

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Pope John Paul II waves to the crowd in 1979.
(Image credit: The Associated Press)
Pope Paul VI gives his final blessing to over 90,000 people crammed into New York's Yankee Stadium on Oct. 4, 1965. This marked the first time a pope traveled to the U.S.
(Image credit: (AP Photo))

Pope John Paul II gives Mass at Logan Circle in Philadelphia on Oct. 4, 1979. This was the pope's first of seven trips to the states.
(Image credit: (Michael Norcia/Sygma/Corbis))

Pope John Paul II greets the faithful from the rooftop of the motorcade carrying him through the streets of Boston as Massachusetts State Police hold back crowds on Oct. 1, 1979.
(Image credit: (AP Photo))

An Iowa woman shows off the Pope John Paul II cake she made in honor of his visit. Des Moines, Iowa, would be the last stop on the pope's six-city tour in 1979.
(Image credit: (Wally McNamee/CORBIS))

A billboard promotes the February 1987 papal visit to New Orleans.
(Image credit: (Philip Gould/Corbis))

A woman peers through pope-oculars during Pope John Paul II's Mass at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The event was attended by 70,000 people.
(Image credit: (Scott Sommerdorf/San Francisco Chronicle/San Francisco))

Pranksters removed an "L" from Los Angeles' famous sign ahead of Pope John Paul II's trip to the city on Sept. 15, 1987. The pope traveled to eight cities on that trip, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Miami, and Detroit.
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Marilyn Weiss))

Spectators throw streamers as Pope John Paul II travels down a street in Manhattan in 1995.
(Image credit: (Vittoriano Rastelli/CORBIS))

Nuns shield themselves from the rain at Giants Stadium, hours before the pope's Mass on Oct. 4, 1995.
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia))

Pope John Paul II celebrates Mass in Camden Yards in Baltimore on Oct. 8, 1995.
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Tim Clary, Pool, File))

Students from a Maryland Catholic school, waving Vatican City flags, anxiously await Pope Benedict XVI's arrival in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2008.
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Bill O'Leary, Pool))

A shopper picks out Pope Francis souvenirs at the gift shop at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on September 21. The pope will celebrate Mass Wednesday with 30,000 people at the basi
(Image credit: (AP Photo/David Goldman))

Lauren Hansen
Lauren Hansen

Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.