By motorcade and popemobile, in a daylong in Manhattan that found pockets of joy and pain, Pope Francis on Friday called for social justice and peace in addresses to world leaders and workaday New Yorkers alike. He ended with a homily that was both an ode to the city and a reminder to watch for glimpses of the presence of God among the poorest of the poor.
"In big cities, beneath the roar of traffic, beneath the rapid pace of change, so many faces pass by unnoticed because they have no 'right' to be there, no right to be part of the city," Francis said in a Mass before 20,000 at Madison Square Garden. "They are the foreigners, the children who go without schooling, those deprived of medical insurance, the homeless, the forgotten elderly. These people stand at the edges of our great avenues, in our streets, in deafening anonymity."
That theme, that "God is living in our cities," provided an apt conclusion to a day spent navigating New York's complicated fabric of rich and struggling. It was the pope's first visit to the city, where the longtime hum of the machines of commerce and prosperity has brought the very excesses he has spent his papacy pushing against.
He spoke of that divide often during the day, from his first remarks before the United Nations General Assembly, where he called for respect for "those considered disposable because they are only considered as part of a statistic," to his closing homily's observation that "big cities also conceal the faces of all those people who don't appear to belong, or are second-class citizens."
Perhaps the day's greatest spectacle was his winding sweep through a swath of Central Park, a logistical feat that included screening tens of thousands of ticketholders, one bag at a time. The throngs roared their greetings to the "people's pope," using the name by which he is commonly known: "Viva Papa!"
In spite of the tight ring of dark-suited security that surrounded the pope at all times, many were allowed a closer look. Among them: a New York police officer, Terrance McGhee, in a wheelchair at the World Trade Center site, whom Francis stooped to greet; dozens of children outside Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem, who waved cellphones as Francis gave head-pats and high-fives; the day laborer at the Garden Mass, a medal under his shirt of St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes; the babies held out for a blessing in the Garden. Just after 8 on the autumn morning, Francis left his papal apartment on the Upper East Side for his address to the General Assembly, the fifth by a pope and the first for him. He called for environmental responsibility and lamented the impact of decades of abuse on the world's poor. "They are cast off by society, forced to live off what is discarded and suffer unjustly from the consequences of abuse of the environment," he said.
From the United Nations, the pope's motorcade sped downtown to the World Trade Center site. Upon arriving, he walked into the September 11 Memorial and Museum, flanked by Cardinal Timothy M Dolan and others.
Francis turned to meet relatives of those who had died on September 11. He entered the museum and its Foundation Hall, where a multifaith ceremony of striking breadth - representatives of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity - heard him eulogize those who died trying to rescue others.
"New York City firefighters walked into the crumbling towers, with no concern for their own well-being," he said. And he called for peace. "Peace in our homes, our families, our schools and communities. Peace in all those places where war never seems to end. Peace for those faces which have known nothing but pain."
The Mass at the Garden was celebrated with the choreography of a concert befitting the hall before a rapt audience.
"A hope which liberates us from the forces pushing us to isolation and lack of concern for the lives of others, for the life of our city," Francis said. "A hope which frees us from empty connections, from abstract analyses or sensationalistic routines. A hope which is unafraid of involvement, which acts as a leaven wherever we happen to live and work. A hope which makes us see, even in the midst of smog, the presence of God as he continues to walk the streets of our city."
"In big cities, beneath the roar of traffic, beneath the rapid pace of change, so many faces pass by unnoticed because they have no 'right' to be there, no right to be part of the city," Francis said in a Mass before 20,000 at Madison Square Garden. "They are the foreigners, the children who go without schooling, those deprived of medical insurance, the homeless, the forgotten elderly. These people stand at the edges of our great avenues, in our streets, in deafening anonymity."
That theme, that "God is living in our cities," provided an apt conclusion to a day spent navigating New York's complicated fabric of rich and struggling. It was the pope's first visit to the city, where the longtime hum of the machines of commerce and prosperity has brought the very excesses he has spent his papacy pushing against.
He spoke of that divide often during the day, from his first remarks before the United Nations General Assembly, where he called for respect for "those considered disposable because they are only considered as part of a statistic," to his closing homily's observation that "big cities also conceal the faces of all those people who don't appear to belong, or are second-class citizens."
Perhaps the day's greatest spectacle was his winding sweep through a swath of Central Park, a logistical feat that included screening tens of thousands of ticketholders, one bag at a time. The throngs roared their greetings to the "people's pope," using the name by which he is commonly known: "Viva Papa!"
In spite of the tight ring of dark-suited security that surrounded the pope at all times, many were allowed a closer look. Among them: a New York police officer, Terrance McGhee, in a wheelchair at the World Trade Center site, whom Francis stooped to greet; dozens of children outside Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem, who waved cellphones as Francis gave head-pats and high-fives; the day laborer at the Garden Mass, a medal under his shirt of St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes; the babies held out for a blessing in the Garden. Just after 8 on the autumn morning, Francis left his papal apartment on the Upper East Side for his address to the General Assembly, the fifth by a pope and the first for him. He called for environmental responsibility and lamented the impact of decades of abuse on the world's poor. "They are cast off by society, forced to live off what is discarded and suffer unjustly from the consequences of abuse of the environment," he said.
From the United Nations, the pope's motorcade sped downtown to the World Trade Center site. Upon arriving, he walked into the September 11 Memorial and Museum, flanked by Cardinal Timothy M Dolan and others.
Francis turned to meet relatives of those who had died on September 11. He entered the museum and its Foundation Hall, where a multifaith ceremony of striking breadth - representatives of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity - heard him eulogize those who died trying to rescue others.
"New York City firefighters walked into the crumbling towers, with no concern for their own well-being," he said. And he called for peace. "Peace in our homes, our families, our schools and communities. Peace in all those places where war never seems to end. Peace for those faces which have known nothing but pain."
The Mass at the Garden was celebrated with the choreography of a concert befitting the hall before a rapt audience.
"A hope which liberates us from the forces pushing us to isolation and lack of concern for the lives of others, for the life of our city," Francis said. "A hope which frees us from empty connections, from abstract analyses or sensationalistic routines. A hope which is unafraid of involvement, which acts as a leaven wherever we happen to live and work. A hope which makes us see, even in the midst of smog, the presence of God as he continues to walk the streets of our city."
© 2015 The New York Times News Service