Francis’ busy itinerary on his final day in US

Francis, who has emphasized humility and service over pomp and circumstance since being elected pope two years ago, also visited the Philadelphia’s Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.

It was Francis’ second such meeting: He received sexual abuse victims at the Vatican in July 2014. He lunched with homeless people in Washington on Thursday after addressing the United States congress. I pledge to you that we will follow the path of truth wherever it may lead.

He told them it is not possible to walk the roads of life without getting one’s feet dirty. He’ll sit in it when he speaks with the inmates.

The pair said they dream of making a pilgrimage overseas and called seeing Francis in the United States “a stepping stone” to doing just that. “Thank you very much for the hard work”, he said to applause.

The Vatican said it would not confirm such a meeting until after it happens. Some people didn’t make it in to see the Pope.

“I think he is more about living by like Jesus than focusing on dogma”, she said in downtown Philadelphia while waiting for a papal Mass later on Sunday. But they have been days of great grace for me and, I pray, for you too.

Pope Francis is scheduled to fly back to Rome at 8 p.m. and will be sent off by a delegation that will include Vice President Joseph Biden, the New York Times reported.

Francis’ plane took off this evening after a packed day in the City of Brotherly Love.

It will be the first time a pope has ever visited a USA prison. Church officials had said previously that they were expecting up to 1 million people to attend the mass. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia ordered hundreds of thousands of communion wafers and had 1,500 priests and deacons ready to distribute them, according to the Huffington Post.

In this vein we should ask ourselves, “How are we trying to live this way in our homes, in our societies?”

But in an apparent effort by the church to reshape the discussion, the Vatican said not all five of the victims on Sunday were abused by members of the clergy; some of the three women and two men had been victimized by relatives or educators.

“I have in my heart these stories of suffering of those youth that were sexually abused”, Francis told bishops.

He said the Pope was “overwhelmed with shame that men entrusted with the tender care of children violated these little ones and caused grievous harm”. The group wants Francis to enact “zero tolerance” for sexual abusers in the priesthood, hold bishops accountable and release the names and case files of thousands of priests who abused children.

It added that the Pope “renewed his commitment” to ensure that victims are treated with justice, the guilty are punished, and to effective prevention in the Church and in society, the statement said.

Reports that priests had sexually abused children and bishops had covered up their actions emerged in 2002, growing into a scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church in the USA and many other countries.

The Pope has met with abuse survivors before.

The pontiff disclosed the gesture of reconciliation at the start of a meeting with American bishops gathered in Philadelphia for a big rally on Catholic families.

At the end of a nine-day tour of Cuba and the USA, Pope Francis is due to hold an open-air Mass in Philadelphia later on Sunday.