Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis
Closing Mass of the World Meeting of Families
*Philadelphia, September 27, 2015

Today the word of God surprises us with powerful and thought-provoking images. Images which challenge us, but also stir our enthusiasm. In the first reading, Joshua tells Moses that two members of the people are prophesying, speaking God's word, without a mandate. In the Gospel, John tells Jesus that the disciples had stopped someone from casting out evil spirits in the name of Jesus. Here is the surprise: Moses and Jesus both rebuke those closest to them for being so narrow! Would that all could be prophets of God's word! Would that everyone could work miracles in the Lord's name!

PHILADELPHIA - Pope Francis urged the hundreds of thousands of people gathered for the closing Mass of the World Meeting of Families to serve and care for each other as freely as God loves the human family.

PHILADELPHIA - While pilgrims in Philadelphia put up with a long weekend of lines and security checks at the papal venues, the pope reached out to a group of people whose lives are lines and security checks for years at a time.

PHILADELPHIA - Pope Francis met with a group of survivors of sexual abuse Sept. 27 and later told bishops that he was overwhelmed by a sense of embarrassment and was committed to holding accountable those who harmed children.

Even before Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ was released to the world in June, Villa St. Joseph Retreat and Ecology Centre in Cobourg, Ont., was teaching others about the importance of caring for all of God’s creation.

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) -- San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller believes Pope Francis' call for the church to serve immigrants and people on the move around the world will inspire the church to respond with love and care for people seeking a new home.

PHILADELPHIA - A re-energized Pope Francis delighted tens of thousands of people crowded onto a thoroughfare in the city center on Saturday, delivering a folksy, off-the-cuff riff on family life that came late in the evening, and at the end of a long day of speeches and festivities that by any measure should have left the 78-year-old pontiff drained.

Philadelphia, Penn. - American composer Aaron Copland’s stirring “Fanfare for the Common Man” greeted a most uncommon pope, who proceeded to speak to America’s better angels on behalf of common men and women, who thronged Independence Mall in their thousands hoping to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis.

PHILADELPHIA - Not far from where the Liberty Bell is on display, Pope Francis urged the people of the United States to continue to "proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof," as the bell's inscription says.

PHILADELPHIA - Pope Francis encouraged Pennsylvania's Catholic clergy and women and men religious to challenge young people to develop "high ideals, generosity of spirit and love for Christ and the church."

Perhaps the ultimate New York accolade for Pope Francis was on sale Friday at newsstands throughout the city. The gritty, often bombastic New York Post changed its name to the New York Pope for a day when the pope seemed to be all over the city.

Homily given by Pope Francis at Mass at Madison Square Garden, Sept. 25, 2015

We are in Madison Square Garden, a place synonymous with this city. This is the site of important athletic, artistic and musical events attracting people not only from this city, but from the whole world. In this place, which represents both the variety and the common interests of so many different people, we have listened to the words: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”(IS 9:1).

NEW YORK - Seeing New York for the first time in his 78 years of life, Pope Francis said he knew Madison Square Garden was an important gathering place for sporting events and concerts. For him, it was transformed into a chapel in the heart of the Big Apple.

NEW YORK - Pope Francis has come to the powerful to demand limits on power. He came to open a session of the General Assembly of the United Nations Sept. 25, to speak to the world’s diplomatic elite and the powerful forces they represent on behalf of the “victims of power badly exercised.”

NEW YORK - Honoring both the pain and the strength of the families of those who died at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and drawing on the pools of water that are part of the site's memorial, Pope Francis spoke about tears and quenching the world's longing for peace."The water we see flowing toward that empty pit remind us of all those lives" lost in 2001, he said. "The flowing water is also a symbol of our tears. Tears at so much devastation and ruin, past and present."