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Going to See the Pope? Leave the Selfie Stick Home

The Secret Service has released a list of items banned from papal events. In addition to the sticks, it includes bicycles, balloons and drones.
Image: Pope Francis poses for a selfie during a special audience with members of \"Eucharist Youth Movement\" in Paul VI hall at the Vatican
Pope Francis poses for a selfie during a special audience with members of "Eucharist Youth Movement" in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, August 7, 2015. REUTERS/Tony GentileTONY GENTILE / Reuters, file
By Tracy Connor

Philadelphia pilgrims who want a photo of themselves with Pope Francis will have to do it the old-fashioned way.

The Secret Service on Wednesday released a list of items that will be banned from public events during the papal visit to the city on Sept. 26 and 27 for security reasons — and it includes selfie sticks.

Image: Newly married couples use a "selfie stick" during Pope Francis' Wednesday general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican
Newly married couples use a "selfie stick" during Pope Francis' Wednesday general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican August 12, 2015. REUTERS/Remo CasilliREMO CASILLI / Reuters, file

Some of the other items are just common sense: explosives, firearms, and ammunition. But the Secret Service also wants people to leave their drones, balloons and laser pointers.

Also on the prohibited list: aerosols, large backpacks and bags, bicycles, hard-sided coolers, glass or metal containers, packages, and signs bigger than five feet.

Francis arrives in the U.S. on Sept. 22 and will visit Washington, D.C., and New York before attending the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

Tracy Connor

Tracy Connor is a senior writer for NBC News. She started this role in December, 2012. Connor is responsible for reporting and writing breaking news, features and enterprise stories for NBCNews.com. Connor joined NBC News from the New York Daily News, where she was a senior writer covering a broad range of news and supervising the health and immigration beats. Prior to that she was an assistant city editor who oversaw breaking news and the courts and entertainment beats.

Earlier, Connor was a staff writer at the New York Post, United Press International and Brooklyn Paper Publications.

Connor has won numerous awards from journalism organizations including the Deadline Club and the New York Press Club.

She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.