Pople Francis is seen in his motorcade on a street in Philadelphia on Saturday, September 26, 2015.
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Aretha Franklin, opera star Andrea Bocelli and actor Mark Wahlberg were among the stars performing at concert for the Pope on Saturday.
Wahlberg, who praised the Pope and told the crowd that he attributed much of his success to his Roman Catholic faith, joked with performers and introduced presenters before a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people.
Before beginning his reflection on a pastoral approach to families, Francis informed the bishops that he had met earlier that morning with survivors of sexual abuse. “Grandparents are the living memory of the family, they passed on the faith to us – to look after grandparents and children is the expression of love”. “I need to put in more effort and to remember love is the base of everything”, said Hoffman, who lives outside Philadelphia. “Families have difficulties. Families – we quarrel, sometimes plates can fly, and children bring headaches”.
Though there are no flawless families, and though in every family there are tensions, difficulties, conflicts, challenges, there is in the family also the abiding love by which all these can be overcome. “However, in families, there is always light” because of the love of God’s son.
Following the meeting at the seminary, Francis was set to visit with inmates at an area prison before returning in the afternoon to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway where he and another expected crowd of up to a million will conclude the World Meeting of Families with Mass and his last public event in the United States. “I won’t speak about mother-in-laws”, he quipped.
He offered advice to families who fight from time to time: “Never let the day end without making peace”.
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Steve Giuliano, who is not Catholic, received tickets to the festival for in-kind services he and his employer provided for the pope’s visit.
