Recap of Pope Francis’ U.S. Visit So Far

Pope Francis opened the Mass by saying, “We are in Madison Square Garden – a place synonymous with this city”. And that was after a big night!

“Any harm done to the environment, therefore, is harm done to humanity”, he said.

The ovations contrasted sharply with the moment of silent prayer during the pope’s visit later in the day to ground zero for an interfaith tribute to the September 11 victims.

Fans on SoundCloud gushed over the single Friday, describing it as “heavenly” and writing “now I want to see him shred live”.

The two commemorative waterfalls at Ground Zero. “Here grief is palpable”. The pope will be staying at the seminary where Chaput also lives.

First on the agenda was a visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels School, set amid public housing in the heavily Hispanic neighbourhood of East Harlem. Can I do that? “He’s a very important person, and he’s talking to important people about issues”. “Let us also pray so that many people can share the joy like yours”.

“As soon as Pope Francis got in, there’s just been an electricity in the whole world, and now he’s coming right to the states, right in the state of Pennsylvania”, said the son of late Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O’Connor, Fr. Terry O’Connor of St. Therese of Lisieux Parish. “That is nice!”

Pope Francis grinned broadly, and the packed arena burst into thunderous applause as Dolan expressed his thanks for the Pope’s presence near the end of the Mass. It also illustrates the Roman Catholic Church’s struggles with changing times, diminishing congregations and a dwindling priesthood… “It was evil, pure evil on this day – and the pope represents the opposite”.

The pope wraps up his USA visit this weekend in Phila… Then they put on a little soccer display for the smiling Francis.

The celebratory tone of a papal parade in the pope mobile invigorated the pontiff who loves people.

Kevin Murphy stands beside a cutout of Pope Francis as nuns from…

But even there, it was far from quiet. He moved from the corridors of power to the grit of the projects with lush Central Park in between.

“A lovely woman named Grace, which – her name says it all, made it possible for me to be here”, she said.

Mr Lombardi saif it was clear that “the Pope, personally, does not like a lot of security around him”, but it was up to any host country to determine what it needed to do to keep him safe.

Transportation officials are urging the thousands of people expected to travel from or through New Jersey to leave their cars at home and use trains, ferries, good old-fashioned shoe leather, or a combination of them.

He entered in a golf cart, drawing cheers from the estimated crowd of 20,000 who waited in line for hours to attend.

He said there is an “urgent need to work for a world free of nuclear weapons”, and referred to the “painful situation” in the Middle East, North Africa and other areas, where Christians and those of different faiths “have been forced to witness the destruction of their places of worship, their cultural and religious heritage, their houses and property”.

Every where you look are barriers and authorities.

And being the early-bird was apparently rough.

This vignette has been corrected to show that Ruth Smart said that as the pope passed, “you felt a cool, refreshing peace”, not “you passed a cool refreshing peace”. Some said the crowds were rib-crunching, constricting breathing.

Pope Francis announced that he will release “Wake Up!” on November 27, the same day the Vamps will drop their sophomore album called “Wake Up”. Well, that’s what happens when there was 185 porta-potties for so many people.

“That is the power of this pope, that he means something to all religions”, her husband, Simran Jeet Singh, said after the service.

Pope Francis arrives for an evening Mass at Madison Square Garden…

Three days ago, in an address to US bishops laying out his vision for American Catholicism, Francis said attention should be paid to the “innocent victim of abortion” but listed the issue as one among many “essential” to the church’s mission, including caring for the elderly and the environment.