WASHINGTON -- The pope's last stop in the nation's capital was a stark contrast to the hype -- and crowd -- surrounding his morning Mass at Nationals Park.

Thousands congregated on the streets outside the packed baseball stadium. But later in the day, his appearance on the campus of Catholic University of America in Northeast Washington was restricted to invited guests.

Students celebrated throughout the afternoon on the lawn in the middle of campus and were treated to their own viewing of the popemobile, but the events were not open to the public.

There was little activity on the approaches to campus, unlike the frenzy preceding Wednesday's appearance before the pope's meeting with U.S. bishops.

Downtown, it was a different story.

"I didn't know what to expect. I just wanted to be here," said Chuck Christopher, who drove from just outside Cleveland with his wife. They didn't have tickets, but they did find a hotel room two blocks from the stadium.

"That was a sign," Christopher said.

They managed to find a single ticket -- a gift from a passing priest -- so Christopher's wife went in while he spent his 50th birthday outside the stadium.

The crowd got the attention of Lovie Morgan Crumble, who lives about three blocks from the stadium. She joined a line of people awaiting the pope's motorcade.

"He's not God, but if he can bring people closer to God, why not honor him?" she said.

The peaceful spirit was evident throughout the area, though rival T-shirt vendors at the entrance to the Navy Yard Metro station did get into a spirited price war that saw the going rate for pope shirts drop from $10 to $5 to $1.

Also available along the route -- though not always at such cut-rate prices -- were a variety of buttons, pendants, flags and "savior seats," foam cushion that promised to make hours sitting still a bit more comfortable.

Closer to the stadium were people holding "Need Tickets" signs.

While the tickets weren't supposed to be transferable, a few did change hands.

"Christ be to God, I just got a ticket," one man screamed after someone handed him a ticket. "Anyone want my sign?"

As the crowd thinned out, street preachers filled the void along the main path from the subway to the stadium. What messages they couldn't get across with banners and T-shirts, they hammered home with megaphones.

A bit more sedate, but no less certain in his conviction, Floyd "Smokey" Grissom of Mechanicsville, Md., was handing out tracts for Dial-the-Truth Ministries.

"I'm not so much anti-Catholic," he said. "I'm just interested in getting people saved."

He said about one in five people offered the tract took it.

"Most folks are apathetic nowadays," he said.

Apathy most definitely was not the call of the day at Catholic University. From the street outside, you could hear shouts, cheers and a seemingly endless procession of singing.

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or zreid@timesdispatch.com.