PHILADELPHIA - 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."

Perhaps the ultimate New York accolade for Pope Francis was on sale Friday at newsstands throughout the city. The gritty, often bombastic New York Post changed its name to the New York Pope for a day when the pope seemed to be all over the city.

Homily given by Pope Francis at Mass at Madison Square Garden, Sept. 25, 2015

We are in Madison Square Garden, a place synonymous with this city. This is the site of important athletic, artistic and musical events attracting people not only from this city, but from the whole world. In this place, which represents both the variety and the common interests of so many different people, we have listened to the words: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”(IS 9:1).

NEW 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.

NEW 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.”

NEW 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."

NEW 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.

NEW 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.

It’’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.

NEW YORK - In a grand yet intimate prayer service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Sept. 24, Pope Francis exhorted the priests and women religious who filled the sanctuary to redouble their sacrifices on behalf of the faithful, but he reserved his greatest praise for American nuns who have often been viewed by Rome with deep suspicion.

Following the visit of Pope Francis having just finished his journey to Cuba and the United States, there is no doubt going to be some papal buzz circulating over the next few weeks. This will not be the first time he will be making headlines since his papacy began in March of 2013. We have all seen many articles pertaining to his words, actions and teachings. Some have included bold statements on subjects such as climate change, the economy and abortion.

WASHINGTON - Benedict Zama looked out from her table and Pope Francis was coming toward her moments after he arrived at the St. Maria's Meal program of Catholic Charities of the Washington Archdiocese.

WASHINGTON - "We can find no social or moral justification, no justification, no justification whatsoever, for lack of housing," Pope Francis told an audience of about 200 clients of Catholic Charities gathered at St. Patrick Church.

NEW YORK - Pope Francis’ appeal to Congress on behalf of migrants has heartened New Yorkers, none more so that Franciscan Father Julian Jagudilla, director of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi’s Migrant Centre.

Holy Mass and Canonization of Blessed Junípero Serra
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington
Wednesday September 23, 2015