‘The global financial agencies should care for the sustainable development of countries and should ensure that they are not subjected to oppressive lending systems which, far from promoting progress, subject people to mechanisms which generate greater poverty, exclusion and dependence, ‘ Francis said.
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The pontiff wrapped up his busy Friday schedule of events in New York with a Mass before about 20,000 people.
An estimated 80,000 people, of all ages and backgrounds, gathered, holding little Vatican flags, some gripping plush pope dolls and nearly all shouting with pure joy and adoration at the sight of the popular pontiff who has electrified a city that takes everything in stride. “I appreciate him coming here”, Nkromah said, adding: “If he is accepting of our work, then God is accepting”.
Yet in the spirit of Jesus’ words to his disciples, perhaps – “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” – the “pope of the periphery” has also wielded his papal power this week with remarkable subtlety and shrewdness. Ive got to be blessed by this pope, she said. “It’s a sign of a second chance in life”.
Lee said this week she was cancer-free after undergoing a double mastectomy.
Yorro was brought up Catholic in the United States by her parents, who are both from the Dominican Republic.
Four times the assembly broke into applause as Pope Francis delivered his homily, which, as is often his custom, focused on those who are marginalized in society.
But the pope’s visit is the big event.
The remarkable sight of the pope speaking in the House chamber seems to delight lawmakers of all persuasions – though he offers an agenda more to Democrats’ liking.
Pope Francis began his New York trip this evening with a special moment inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. At the height of the scandal, many priests said they stopped wearing their collars so much in public or refrained from hugging or touching any child they didn’t know well for fear of evoking the misdeeds of others.
At the conclusion of his 40-minute speech, he said: “This common home of all men and women must also be built on the understanding of a certain sacredness of created nature”.
After he walked into the church, he turned to a teen girl in a wheelchair and approached her. A giant grin across his face, the pope leaned out and put his hand behind his ear, encouraging the chorus to sing louder. They don’t take the easy out of spreading one photograph over two pages, even though their photographers are just as keenly observant as the Post’s.
The pope sat on a simple wooden chair made for him by immigrant laborers at Don Bosco Workers in Port Chester, New York.
From the United Nations, the Roman Catholic Church leader traveled to the National September 11 Memorial, the site where the World Trade Center once stood.
He also got a bit of a tech lesson. It is part of a young network of six Catholic schools in East Harlem and the South Bronx that is explicitly using the city’s top charter schools as a model. One had a touch screen with information about the environment.
The pope waved, smiled and accepted some flowers and other gifts. “On behalf of all New Yorkers, I am proud to be hosting His Holiness this week, and I wish him the most enjoyable and peaceful time as he continues to inspire us all to strive for a better world“.
The stop at Our Lady Queen of Angels School, which serves 295 mostly Latino and black children, is in line with Francis’ mission of serving immigrants, the marginalized and the poor.
Francis will then meet with family members of victims who were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Addressing the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, Pope Francis said man is not only a freedom which he reflects for himself.
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In Philadelphia, Francis will celebrate Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, visit Independence Mall and attend the World Meeting of Families.
