PHILADELPHIA - A re-energized Pope Francis delighted tens of thousands of people crowded onto a thoroughfare in the city center on Saturday, delivering a folksy, off-the-cuff riff on family life that came late in the evening, and at the end of a long day of speeches and festivities that by any measure should have left the 78-year-old pontiff drained.
Pope makes passionate plea for religious freedom
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterPhiladelphia, Penn. - American composer Aaron Copland’s stirring “Fanfare for the Common Man” greeted a most uncommon pope, who proceeded to speak to America’s better angels on behalf of common men and women, who thronged Independence Mall in their thousands hoping to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis.
'Let freedom ring!' Respect for rights helps society, Pope says
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServicePHILADELPHIA - Not far from where the Liberty Bell is on display, Pope Francis urged the people of the United States to continue to "proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof," as the bell's inscription says.
Pope challenges religious to create ministries that inspire young people
By Dennis Sadowski, Catholic News ServicePHILADELPHIA - Pope Francis encouraged Pennsylvania's Catholic clergy and women and men religious to challenge young people to develop "high ideals, generosity of spirit and love for Christ and the church."
New York Pope
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
Pope brings Gospel of 'encounter' to Madison Square Garden
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServiceNEW YORK - Seeing New York for the first time in his 78 years of life, Pope Francis said he knew Madison Square Garden was an important gathering place for sporting events and concerts. For him, it was transformed into a chapel in the heart of the Big Apple.
Power must not be wielded by the few, Pope tells UN
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterNEW YORK - Pope Francis has come to the powerful to demand limits on power. He came to open a session of the General Assembly of the United Nations Sept. 25, to speak to the world’s diplomatic elite and the powerful forces they represent on behalf of the “victims of power badly exercised.”
Pope at 9/11 Memorial: Violence is never impersonal, always brings tears
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServiceNEW YORK - Honoring both the pain and the strength of the families of those who died at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and drawing on the pools of water that are part of the site's memorial, Pope Francis spoke about tears and quenching the world's longing for peace."The water we see flowing toward that empty pit remind us of all those lives" lost in 2001, he said. "The flowing water is also a symbol of our tears. Tears at so much devastation and ruin, past and present."
Pope can open United States to a broad range of justice work
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterNEW YORK - The Pope’s tour of the United States has the power to re-engage Catholics in a broad range of work for justice and to rediscover a broader, more Catholic perspective, Kate Bini said shortly after Pope Francis address to the United Nations.
Pope’s inspiration hits New York streets
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterNEW YORK - In two days Pope Francis has spoken to some of the most powerful people on Earth — U.S. senators and Congress representatives and the world diplomatic community at the United Nations.
New York goes crazy in a papal sort of way
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterIt’s actually hard to gather a sense of how New Yorkers are responding to Pope Francis. Out on the street, it seems like there are no native New Yorkers. Everybody is either a tourist or part of a visiting TV crew, filing their own reports on how New Yorkers are greeting Pope Francis.