Pop-ups, Lego basilica welcome Francis

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Pope selfies, a basilica made of Lego, even popethemed toast: Pope Francis has been popping up all over the northeastern United States ahead of his visit next week.

Some fun facts as the country prepares to welcome the pope in Washington on September 22 before he heads on to New York and Philadelphia:

A priest in Pennsylvania is building a replica of St. Peter’s Basilica out of Lego blocks in honor of Pope Francis’s visit.

Father Bob Simon of Saint Catherine of Siena parish in Moscow, Pennsylvania, has used half a million blocks to produce a scaled-down version of the Vatican City basilica and its adjoining colonnaded piazza.

Six months in the making, the work will be on show September 19 to February 15 at the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, near where the pope will attend the World Meeting of Families event.

You can toast the pope’s visit in a whole new way with the ‘’Pope Toaster,’’ which brands Francis’s image onto a slice of bread.

For a spot of variety at breakfast, it can also print the words “Spread the Love,’’ images of Philadelphia icons Ben Franklin or the Liberty Bell.

Billed as the “best thing since sliced bread’’ the Pope Toaster will set you back about $50.

A cardboard cut-out representing Pope Francis has been cropping up all over Philadelphia, snapped in selfies by Catholic fans across the city.

Appearances of the “pop-up’’ pope can be followed on social media under the hashtag #popuppope or on the Twitter account @PopUpPope.

The cardboard likeness is being used to evangelize and spread news about the real-life Francis’ visit, says the account.

Famous for residing in a spartan bedroom rather than the opulent Papal Apartments in the Vatican, Francis will stay in an upscale Washington neighborhood lined with embassies and the vice president’s residence while visiting the city.

The pope will be put up at the Apostolic Nunciature, the Holy See’s embassy of sorts in the US, the Washington Archdiocese confirmed to AFP after initial reports in news outlet Politico. The building is across a tree-lined street from Vice President Joe Biden’s official residence.

Pope Francis, 78, is expected to give 26 speeches, eight in Cuba and 18 in the US. Only four of those are expected to be in English, including his address to a joint session of the US Congress September 24. The next morning he will give a speech in Spanish to the UN General Assembly.