Papal appearance Pope John Paul II visited Phoenix on September 14, 1987, as a part of his whirlwind tour of the United States. In Tempe, he held Mass for 75,000 at Sun Devil Stadium, which had all images and textual mentions of the Sun Devil mascot and nickname removed or covered for the occasion.
Papal appearance Pope John Paul II visited Phoenix on September 14, 1987, as a part of his whirlwind tour of the United States In Tempe, he held Mass for 75,000 at Sun Devil Stadium which had all images and textual mentions of the Sun Devil mascot and nickname removed or covered for the occasion.