Pope’s Whirlwind New York Tour Comes to an End

CBS New York
September 26, 2015

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/09/26/pope-whirlwind-new-york-tour/

Pope Francis’ whirlwind tour of New York came to an end as he headed for Philadelphia, the final stop on his first-ever visit to the United States.

The pope took off from Kennedy Airport for the City of Brotherly Love Saturday, where he will take part in a weekend of activities, including a Vatican-organized rally that will culminate in an outdoor Mass for 1 million people.

The pope gave a brief farewell to a few hundred worshipers who gathered at JFK to see him off.

“It made me feel very happy,” the girl’s brother said.

They included seven cloistered nuns from the Precious Blood Seminary in Brooklyn holding white roses for the pontiff. Four of them are originally from Francis’ native Argentina.

With the wind whipping, he took a small stumble as he ascended the stairs to a waiting jet. He waved to the crowd as the airplane taxied.

Sweeping through the landmarks of America’s biggest city, Pope Francis on Friday offered comfort to 9/11 victims’ families at ground zero, warnings to world leaders at the United Nations and encouragement to schoolchildren in Harlem as he mixed the high and low ministry so characteristic of his papacy.

In the early evening, he led a jubilant parade through Central Park past a crowd of about 80,000. People from different parts of the world waited in the park for hours for a momentary glimpse of perhaps the most admired man in the world.

“He’s going to bring us all back to our faith and make us all one in this universe,” one spectator said.

With smart phone cameras held high, his very presence in Central Park stirred a wave of emotion.

“That was probably one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen,” said another spectator. “I’ve never felt closer to God in my life.”

The pope moved through the crowd and moved many to tears, offering his blessing to all and his personal touch to a fortunate few.

The pontiff then celebrated Mass at Madison Square Garden, a scene of a solemn service celebrating New York in all its diversity.

“Living in a big city is not always easy,” Francis told 18,000 people at the Garden, easily one of the most respectful crowds the arena has ever seen. “Yet big cities are a reminder of the hidden riches present in our world in the diversity of its cultures, traditions and historical experiences.”

The pope delivered the homily in Spanish, drawing a parallel between the Garden and the city itself.

As Mass ended, Cardinal Timothy Dolan spoke the words that led to rapturous applause.

“We pray for you on Sunday and now you are here,” he told Francis.

As people left, it was clear the experience had changed lives.

“He talked about seeing the face of Christ in the people of the city,” said Sister Margaret O’Brien. “That resonated.”

Francis will spend the last two of his six days in the U.S. in Philadelphia as the star attraction at the World Meeting of Families, a conference for more than 18,000 people from around the world that has been underway as the pope traveled to Washington and New York.

An Argentine on the first U.S. visit of his life, Francis will be given a stage steeped in American history. He will speak at Independence Hall, where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and will do so from a lectern used for the Gettysburg Address, another nod to Abraham Lincoln, one of the four Americans the pope cited as inspirations in his address to Congress.

As he has done in New York and Washington, he will give his attention to both the elite and the disadvantaged, this time visiting inmates in Philadelphia’s largest jail.

On Saturday night, on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the cultural heart of the city, he will be serenaded by Aretha Franklin and other performers at a festival celebrating families, and will return there Sunday for the Mass, his last major event before leaving that night for Rome.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia organized the conference, hoping for a badly needed infusion of papal joy and enthusiasm amid shrinking membership, financial troubles and one of the worst clergy sex-abuse scandals to hit a U.S. diocese.

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