The Pope is getting all the publicity, but he isn't the only head of state visting a city of historic importance these days. Last week King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain came to St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States. St. Augustine is celebrating its 450th anniversary, having been founded by the Spanish on September 8, 1565.
I'll bet the Spanish monarchs, cheered as they were by adoring crowds, didn't make nearly as much of a mess of the city as the visit of Pope Francis is expected to do to Philadelphia.
The president of China is also visiting Seattle today. (I don't know if there are cheering crowds, but I heard there were Tibetan protesters.)
Not too likely to be cheering, I imagine. Maybe we can no longer get along without China, but that doesn't make us happy about it. It's safer to cheer the Pope, or the King of Spain—over most of us, they hold little power.
