On this night one year ago, three Villanova University interns became witnesses to a remarkable event in St. Peter’s Square as white smoke emerged from the narrow chimney of the Cistine Chapel.
"We’d been out there for hours. It was raining. We were huddled under an umbrella and all of the sudden smoke appeared and we couldn’t tell if it was black or white and the crowd kind of paused for a second and then when we realized it was white, everyone just went insane," recalls Danielle McMonagle.
Back now at Villanova’s campus in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on the morning of Pope Francis' first anniversary of his election, McMonagle, Sean Hudgins and Lauren Colegrove spent some time reminiscing about how their internships at the Vatican became extraordinary experiences.
Colegrove was working as an intern for the Catholic News Service. Her first day on the job, she was getting acclimated at her desk after meeting the staff when her editor’s phone rang and a reporter delivered the news that Pope Benedict was resigning.
"So everything just kind of exploded in that moment. Nobody really knew what to do,” Colegrove said. “It was incredibly unexpected." After all, the last time a pope had resigned was nearly 600 years ago.
McMonagle and Hudgins saw the news on Facebook, which was fitting considering they were about to start internships with the Vatican’s social media team.
"Sean and I were together getting ready to go to our first day of work and all the sudden we were on Facebook and we started seeing these stories about the Pope resigning and we were like, ‘What? Are we still going to have our jobs tomorrow,’” McMonagle said.
"Our friends were joking, ‘Oh, you got the pope kicked out,’" Hudgins remembers.
Being at the Vatican during that historic time gave the students an opportunity to both cover and experience the evening Pope Francis was elected, first-hand.
Hudgins and McMonagle didn't have to be at St. Peter’s Square the night that Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a Jesuit from Argentina, was elected to lead the Catholic Church. They insisted. It was the second day of voting and during the five previous conclaves to select a pope, it took an average of nearly three days for the College of Cardinals to elect the new pope. The voting follows a famous tradition, where after each secret ballot is cast, smoke emerges from the chimney of the conclave room. The cardinals vote until someone receives a vote of two-thirds, plus one. They burn the ballots after each vote. Black smoke shows a failed ballot. White smoke means a new pope has been elected. It was difficult to predict when they'd see white smoke.
"So we’d been out there for hours. It was raining. We were huddled under an umbrella and all of the sudden smoke appeared and we couldn’t tell if it was black or white and the crowd kind of paused for a second and then when we realized it was white everyone just went insane,” McMonagle said.
In the same moment, Hudgins said he remembers being awestruck.
"We looked around, everyone was really excited. There was a small group of nuns next to us, very tiny little women next to us and they were jumping up and down on each other, it was great to see,” Hudgins said.
Colegrove was just arriving back at her apartment after working in the square earlier that day.
"It was kind of a dreary day, and then the black smoke came that morning, so it was a little bit disappointing and no one expected him to be elected that early on,” Colegrove said. When she got word from her roommates that there was a new pope, they all rushed over to St. Peter’s Square, to wait for Pope Francis to appear.
"We got on the Metro and we took it over there. It was a really cool experience because I was in the Metro car when it was announced that he was the first pope from South America to be elected and it just, it exploded. Everyone was just going crazy and then as soon as we got off the Metro people just started storming, just running as fast as they could to get to the square to be a part of this historic event,” Colegrove said.
As they covered the election and installation of Pope Francis along with media from all over the world, the story of the Villanova interns who became witnesses to history made headlines too. They were interviewed by their hometown television station, NBC10, along CNN and The Today Show.
"There was that brief moment of celebrity! That was kinda fun," Hudgins said. "And I think it was really rewarding to see our work go up online and have it get a bunch of likes on Facebook."
All three seniors are hoping their journalism and social media experience at the Vatican will soon help open some doors for that first big job when they graduate.
"The whole experience just perpetuated my passion and love for being in that kind of work," McMonagle said.
Passengers ran from a US Airways flight that was forced to abort takeoff on its way from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Thursday evening.
"There was a lot of screaming and crying," passenger Dennis Fee said as he described the chaos that ensued in the moments following an emergency aboard US Airways Flight 1702.
As quickly as the A320 Airbus lifted off at 6:25 p.m., it came crashing back down.
"As we first hit the ground, flight attendants were yelling to keep our heads down," said Fee.
The aircraft was leaving from Philadelphia International Airport when it experienced a mechanical failure that forced the nose of the plane into the ground, according to airline officials.
I just sort of held onto the seat and tried not to panic," Fee said.
Airport officials say the front wheel of the aircraft blew out, causing the front of the plane to crash into the runway.
Rachel Silverman described the scary ordeal to her mother.
"She smelled gas and was very nervous," said the mom of the 23-year-old passenger. "She thought the plane was going to explode."
Emergency crews were able to evacuate the plane safely through traditional and emergency exits.
One person on the grounded flight suffered minor injuries in the emergency. That person has been treated and released.
At the time of the emergency evacuation, 149 passengers and five crew members were aboard, according to airport officials.
Passengers were safely evacuated & we are reaccommodating passengers on a new aircraft, scheduled to depart later this evening.
— US Airways (@USAirways) March 13, 2014
Silverman, who was flying solo to a wedding in Florida, is unsure if she feels comfortable flying out right now, but Fee is looking forward to making his way to the Sunshine State with friends.
"I think as we make our way down the runway, I'll be a little worried, but once we're up, I'll be fine. I'm just excited to get to Florida."
Flights at Philly International were temporarily grounded, but resumed shortly after all passenger were safe inside the terminal.
"I'm an idiot. Just got in an accident and I drove away," that's what prosecutors say a Montgomery County woman texted to her aunt after she struck and killed a teenager along a busy area road.
Police say Sarah Ann Derstein was drunk behind the wheel and reading a text message when she struck 15-year-old Dennis Kee and took off.
Kee died from his injuries after the April 26 crash. Prosecutors say Kee was walking with a few friends along Route 309 in Hatfield when he was struck. One of Kee's friends suffered a broken elbow.
Derstein, 32, took off from the scene of the crash and kept texting even after the accident.
About a month later, police arrested Lansdale's Derstein.
Prosecutors said Derstein's blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit. It wasn't her first time driving drunk either as she was sentenced to accelerated rehabilitative disposition stemming from a 2010 DUI arrest.
In October, Derstein pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle, accidents involving bodily injury and DUI of twice the legal limit.
On Wednesday, a Montgomery County judge sentenced her to four to eight years in prison with four years of probation to follow her release.
The sentence brings closure to Kee's family. After the deadly wreck, Kee's sister talked with NBC10's Chris Cato about the phone call that changed her life.
"And I was like 'He's OK, right?' And he was like, 'No, he died'. And I was like, 'No, he's OK. That can't be my brother,' " said Breanna Hitchens.
"I just don't understand why you would take a risk with your own life, let alone someone else's life," said Hitchens.
Passengers who were aboard a South Florida-bound plane that was forced to abort takeoff at Philadelphia International Airport Thursday were happy to finally make it to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport early Friday.
"It feels very nice, very nice to be on the ground in Lauderdale," said Dennis Fee, who was aboard US Airways Flight 1702 which came crashing back down shortly after it lifted off around 6:25 p.m.
The A320 Airbus was leaving Philadelphia when it experienced a mechanical failure that forced the nose of the plane into the ground, according to airline officials.
Of the 149 passengers and five crew members aboard the plane, just one minor injury was reported.
Fee and several other passengers aboard the flight arrived at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in the early hours of the morning Friday
"We started skidding down the runway, people were screaming and crying, it was quite harrowing," Fee said.
Emergency crews were able to evacuate the plane safely through traditional and emergency exits.
"All the sudden we slammed back into the runway and bounced and we go up a little more and we slam again. It happened very quickly so we didn't know exactly what was going on," passenger Larry Grant said. "Almost instantaneously people from the back were screaming 'fire, fire,' and so passengers did what they were supposed to do and they pulled the emergency doors over the window and we started to proceed and the ramps inflated and we got everybody out, we slid down the ramps, very fast."
"The tail of the plane started shaking," said Valerie Charles, who was in the back. "It kept seeming like the pilot was trying to go up in the air...the plane hit the ground very hard, like twice. And then the third time I just started panicking and I wanted to get off the flight and everybody kept telling me 'sit down.'"
Fee praised the crew members for staying calm.
"It went well, the stewardesses, the airline people did quite well," he said.
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High winds ripped off part of the roof at a Bed, Bath & Beyond in a New Jersey strip mall Thursday morning, causing an evacuation and the shuttering of several stores, authorities say.
Debris from the roof hit a small gas line that runs through several stores in the mall on International Drive in Flanders, sparking a small fire, police said.
The fire was doused quickly and no one was hurt. The mall area was evacuated as a precaution.
Utility crews shut off the gas main and several stores, including the home furnishing store, were closed while authorities investigated. It wasn't clear when they would reopen.
A fire official said the part of the roof that flew off was like a sealant, and the roof itself did not sustain any structural damage.
A wind advisory is in effect for Flanders, along with Morris County and much of the tri-state area, as the National Weather Service predicts gusts may reach 45 mph.
A truck crash closed a major Chester County thoroughfare this morning.
Paoli Pike was closed from Thomas Avenue to Five Points Road in West Goshen, Pa. aroud 8:30 a.m.
A truck appeared to overturn in the middle of the roadway a little distance from where Paoli Pike goes under the highway.
One person was rushed to Paoli Hospital in serious condition.
A crane was brought in to upright the wrecked truck.
Officials warned the roadway could be closed for hours and the roadway reopened shortly before 10:30 a.m.
While the road was closed, police directed traffic around the scene and West Chester Pike could served as an alternate route.
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