About 40,000 New York area residents learned on Thursday that they had won two tickets in a city-sponsored lottery to watch Pope Francis’ procession through Central Park on Sept. 25.

A day later, many of them had been moved by the spirit of capitalism to offer those tickets on eBay and Craigslist, in some cases asking hundreds of dollars each.

New Yorkers are not the only Americans eager to see the pope or make a quick dollar off his visit. But New York is the only stop on the pope’s tour that will not offer the public a chance to see him without a ticket.

To watch his motorcade through Central Park and attend a Mass he will celebrate in Madison Square Garden later that day requires tickets, creating a potentially lucrative market for one of the city’s unofficial patron saints, the hustler.

Tickets to the Central Park procession have been offered on eBay from $200 to $400.

The mayor’s office vowed on Friday to crack down on online scalpers, and officials said that eBay and Craigslist had been quick to remove the ads at the city’s request.

“The city, along with the United States Secret Service, are monitoring ticket sales sites to remove tickets that are for sale,” said Monica Klein, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Tickets to the Mass in Madison Square Garden are being distributed by individual parishes and have not appeared for sale on the Internet, but tickets for prime seats for the pope’s appearance at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia are being offered online to the highest bidder.

“Join Pope Francis as he celebrates the closing of the World Meeting of Families,” wrote one seller on Craigslist, who offered two tickets for $5,000. “This is the closing Mass with the Pope!”

Another seller listed passes to the Mass in Philadelphia for $250, and even offered to throw in rosary beads.

In Philadelphia, event organizers have made 10,000 tickets available to each of three papal events: a speech at Independence Hall on Sept. 26; an appearance and remarks at the World Meeting of Families later that same day; and a Mass on Sept. 27. Those without a ticket can attend the Meeting of Families and the Mass, both of which will be held on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, but the viewing area will be far from the stage.

Roman Catholic Church officials have been predictably unhappy that some are seeking to capitalize off the chance to glimpse the pope.

“Papal tickets are never intended to be sold,” said the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in a statement, adding that it had asked eBay and Craigslist to remove the ads. “Scalping of tickets to papal events is shameful and reprehensible.”

Nevertheless, ads hawking tickets to both the Central Park procession and to events in Philadelphia continued to appear on Friday night even as earlier listings were removed.

Some scalpers even worked the official crackdown into their sales pitches.

“Update: grab your tickets now, eBay is not allowing them to be listed and Craigslist will probably follow suit!” said one Craigslist seller in Rockland County, N.Y., offering tickets to the Central Park event for $400 on Friday. “Google it.”