The Pope packed a lot of hugs, handshakes, blessings and political admonitions into a period of less than a week that took him to the halls of Washington power, the United Nations General Assembly and drew throngs of admirers to hear him celebrate Mass.
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Action News viewer Daniel Madden has quite a story to tell and so will his daughter…when she learns how to talk.
I encourage you to join me in continuing to reflect on the speeches and homilies that Pope Francis delivered during his apostolic journey.
Calling families “a factory of hope”, Francis drew laughs from the crowd as he acknowledged his message might be greeted with skepticism by a few. We sympathize with those who live and work in Philadelphia and had to deal with considerable inconvenience over the weekend.
Whether he was greeting the masses from the popemobile or just casually waving out the window of the zippy papal Fiat, seeing what mode of transportation would get the pope from one event to the next was nearly as fun as seeing the man himself.
The Pope said, “Jesus tells us not to hold back these little miracles”. Many people had traveled across America to “witness, pray, and rejoice”.
Barbara Dorris of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said afterward she doesn’t know which survivors were picked for the meeting but that she’s still troubled by Francis’ handling over the issue.
“Instead, he wants us to encourage them, to spread them”.
But perhaps the most touching and life-affirming experience of the Pope’s visit can be found not in his own handsome encounters with American pilgrims, but in the transformation of the pilgrims themselves.
PHILADELPHIA The visit by Pope Francis to Philadelphia is bringing people near and far together for at least the weekend.
“As a fellow Catholic, I am glad that Pope Francis has remained true to the doctrine taught by the Roman Catholic Church but does not alienate or judge those that the church has persecuted in the past because that is not what we are called to do”, Madden said.
Victims’ groups had complained earlier in the week that Francis neglected to address their plight when he congratulated bishops for their “courageous” and generous response to the scandal.
The pope’s proclamation of the Gospel in Washington, New York and Philadelphia September 22-27 focused on reinvigorating people’s faith, hope, trust and commitment to loving God, serving others and living up to the founding ideals of the United States: equality, opportunity for all, religious liberty and the sacred dignity of every creature – human especially, but also the earth.
Bua agrees with Robinson about not writing off Pope Francis.
The Rev. Lewis Macklin, pastor of Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Youngstown, watched coverage of the pope: “You don’t have to be Catholic to understand his message”.
Francis said his job was to be ‘the servant of the servants of God… People are blessed and at their best when they are part of a family composed of a mother, a father, children and grandparents. He also commented on the devoutness of American people.
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Cubans in exile wanted more, much more, from Pope Francis. But no bishop to date has suffered any known Vatican punishment for protecting abusers rather than children, although two USA bishops resigned as Francis launched a new process to hold such bishops accountable and Boston Cardinal Bernard Law resigned under pressure in 2002. On Wednesday, it was confirmed by mainstream media outlets that Pope Francis met with Kim Davis for a brief meeting last Thursday. “Joshua told Moses that people were prophesying without a mandate and John reported that the disciples had put a stop to people casting out demon’s in Christ’s name”, he said.
