NEW YORK — Sweeping through the landmarks of America’s biggest city, Pope Francis on Friday offered comfort to 9/11 victims’ families at ground zero, warnings to world leaders at the United Nations and encouragement to schoolchildren in Harlem as he mixed the high and low ministry so characteristic of his papacy.
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, usually the site of basketball games and rock concerts but this time the scene of a solemn service celebrating New York in all its diversity.
“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 lush Central Park in between.
He drew huge, adoring crowds while also managing to connect one-on-one with countless New Yorkers, despite extraordinarily tight security that closed off many streets and kept most spectators behind police barricades.
“As he passed by, you passed a cool, refreshing peace, as if he were spreading a huge blanket of peace through the crowd,” Ruth Smart of Brooklyn said of the procession in Central Park. “Even though the crowd exploded in a roar, it was pure joy.”
On Saturday 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 U.S., the first of his life.
As Friday’s Mass came to a close with a sustained and thunderous roar of applause, the toll of the long day seemed evident as an exhausted Francis walked with assistance down the stairs of the altar.
In his speech at the U.N., the pope decried the destruction of the environment through a “selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity.”
He declared the environment itself has rights and that mankind has no authority to abuse them, presenting his environmental mantra live before world leaders in hopes of spurring concrete commitments at the upcoming 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 morning 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.
Francis’ afternoon schedule reflected the penchant of the “people’s pope” for engaging with the public, starting with a visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels School, in the heavily Hispanic neighborhood of East Harlem.
From Harlem Francis headed toward Central Park, where he smiled as he rode slowly in his open-sided Jeep past a cheering, shrieking crowd and a sea of arms holding cellphones aloft.
For those lucky enough to score a ticket, there was a catch: no backpacks, no chairs and no selfie sticks.
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Lawmaker grabs pope’s drinking glass• PHILADELPHIA — Pope Francis wasn’t the only person to drink from the glass of water he used during his speech to Congress. An enterprising Democratic congressman from Philadelphia also took a sip.
U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, a Catholic, told the Philadelphia Daily News that as the pope left the chamber Thursday, he headed to the lectern to grab Francis’ drinking glass.
Brady said he took it to his office and had a drink. So did his wife, Debra, and two staffers, he said.
The congressman said he also invited fellow Catholic and Democrat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania into his office. Casey, his wife and his mother dipped their fingers into the water, Brady said.
Brady said he used a bottle to save the rest for his four grandchildren and his great-granddaughter, saying he would bless them with it.
Everyone wakes up• NEW YORK — Holy musical matrimony? Pope Francis and UK pop group The Vamps are releasing albums of the same name on the same day.
Pope Francis announced that he will release “Wake Up!” on Nov. 27, the same day the Vamps will drop their sophomore album called “Wake Up.”
“It’s ridiculous really, like it’s ridiculously cool. I didn’t even know the pope was releasing anything, but for it to be released at the same time and with the same sort of name, it’s amazing,” Vamps guitarist James McVey said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday.
The Vatican-approved album will include the religious leader’s speeches in various languages, including English, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. The sound ranges from pop to rock to Latin. The album will include 11 tracks.
