Thousands of pilgrims braved the heat on Sunday as the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage reached its final stop in Philadelphia.
Wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, Father Matt Brody of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia surveyed the throng of faithful making their way down Philadelphia’s Broad Street praying the rosary.
“People want to know why they are braving the heat to follow a canopy,” he explained to EWTN News. “I’ve already explained to three people what the Eucharist is. They are curious about the monstrance, and this gives a chance to evangelize.”
Evangelization was the chief mission of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage 2026, which ended Sunday after passing through 18 dioceses since it began on May 24 in St. Augustine, Florida.
The final stop in Philadelphia took on a patriotic theme in the City of Brotherly Love as about 2,000 believers squeezed into the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul for Mass. Beforehand, sisters knelt before the relics of St. Katharine Drexel, one of
