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Pope Francis mingles with high and low in New York visit

 
Pope Francis, center, enters Madison Square Garden to celebrate Mass on Friday in New York. He drew a crowd of 18,000 people and praised the diversity of big cities.
Pope Francis, center, enters Madison Square Garden to celebrate Mass on Friday in New York. He drew a crowd of 18,000 people and praised the diversity of big cities.
Published Sept. 26, 2015

NEW YORK — Sweeping through the landmarks of America's biggest city, Pope Francis on Friday offered comfort to Sept. 11 victims' families at ground zero, warnings to world leaders at the United Nations, and encouragement to schoolchildren in Harlem.

In the early evening, he led a jubilant parade through Central Park past a crowd of about 80,000 and celebrated Mass at Madison Square Garden.

"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."

Francis' itinerary for his only full day in New York was packed with contrasts befitting a head of state dubbed the "slum pope" for his devotion to the poor. He moved from the corridors of power to the grit of the projects with Central Park in between.

He drew huge, adoring crowds despite extraordinarily tight security that closed off many streets.

This morning, he flies to Philadelphia for a big Vatican-sponsored rally for Catholic families. As many as 1 million people are expected for the closing Mass on Sunday, the last day of Francis' six-day, three-city visit to the United States.

In his speech at the United Nations, the pope decried the destruction of the environment through a "selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity."

The environment itself has rights, and mankind has no authority to abuse them, said Francis, who hopes to spur concrete commitments at the forthcoming climate-change negotiations in Paris.

He demanded immediate access for the world's poor to adequate food, water and housing, saying they have the right to lodging, labor and land.

Francis' speech, delivered in his native Spanish, received repeated rounds of applause from an audience that included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani activist shot and gravely wounded by the Taliban.

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 Sept. 11 victims.

After praying before the waterfall pools that mark the spot where the twin towers once stood, Francis met with relatives of the 3,000 victims whose names are inscribed on the water's edge.

In the afternoon, he visited Our Lady Queen of Angels School, set amid public housing in the heavily Hispanic neighborhood of East Harlem. He joked around with the children, chatted happily with them in Spanish, shook hands and posed for a few selfies.