Francis sees NYC's highs, lows

NEW YORK - Sweeping through the landmarks of America's biggest city, Pope Francis on Friday offered comfort to 9/11 victims' families at ground zero, warnings to world leaders at the United Nations, and encouragement to schoolchildren in Harlem as he mixed the high and low ministry so characteristic of his papacy.

In the early evening, he led a jubilant parade through Central Park past a crowd of about 80,000 and celebrated Mass at Madison Square Garden, usually the site of basketball games and rock concerts but this time the scene of a solemn service celebrating New York in all its diversity.

"Living in a big city is not always easy," Francis told 18,000 people at the Garden, easily one of the most respectful crowds the arena has ever seen. "Yet big cities are a reminder of the hidden riches present in our world in the diversity of its cultures, traditions, and historical experiences."

Francis' itinerary for his only full day in New York was packed with contrasts befitting a head of state dubbed the "slum pope" for his devotion to the poor. He moved from the corridors of power to the grit of the projects, with lush Central Park in between.

He drew huge, adoring crowds while also managing to connect one-on-one with countless New Yorkers, despite extraordinarily tight security that closed off many streets and kept most spectators behind police barricades.

"As he passed by, you passed a cool, refreshing peace, as if he were spreading a huge blanket of peace through the crowd," Ruth Smart of Brooklyn said of the procession in Central Park. "Even though the crowd exploded in a roar, it was pure joy."

In his speech at the U.N., the pope decried the destruction of the environment through a "selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity."

Francis' speech, delivered in his native Spanish, received repeated rounds of applause from an audience that included German Chancellor Angela Merkel; Bill and Melinda Gates; and Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousefzai, the young Pakistani activist shot and gravely wounded by the Taliban.

The ovations contrasted sharply with the moment of silent prayer during the pope's visit later in the day to ground zero for an interfaith tribute to the Sept. 11 victims.

After praying before the waterfall pools that mark the spot where the twin towers once stood, Francis met with relatives of the 3,000 victims whose names are inscribed on the water's edge.

Among those on hand was Monica Iken-Murphy, whose husband, bond trader Michael Patrick Iken, died in one of the towers.

"This is where loved ones lost their lives . . . and this is the way we are going to honor them by having someone who is holy, closest to God, Pope Francis, come here and bless this site," Iken-Murphy said. "I couldn't be prouder to share this memorial and museum with him."

Francis' afternoon schedule reflected the penchant of the "people's pope" for engaging with the public, starting with a visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels School, set amid public housing in the heavily Hispanic neighborhood of East Harlem.

After the morning's deadly serious activities, the 78-year-old pope clearly perked up when he got to the Catholic school.

He joked around with the children, chatted happily with them in Spanish, shook hands, and posed for a few selfies.

A security guard intervened when one girl gave him a big hug.

The pope - who says he hasn't watched TV in decades and doesn't know how to work a computer - even got a lesson in how to use a touchscreen from fourth grader Kayla Osborne, 8.

The crowd in the gym included about 150 immigrants and refugees, some of them in the U.S. illegally.

In his remarks, Francis recalled the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, saying: "His dream was that many children like you could get an education. It is beautiful to have dreams and to be able to fight for them."

About a half-hour before the popemobile passed through Central Park, a rainbow suddenly appeared above the crowd, which erupted in joyous "Oooohs!" and "Ahhhhhs!"

Francis smiled as he rode slowly in his open-sided Jeep past a cheering, shrieking crowd and a sea of arms holding cellphones aloft. For those lucky enough to score a ticket, there was a catch: No backpacks, no chairs, and no selfie sticks.

Denise Villasenor, a 27-year-old Columbia University graduate student from the Philippines and a Catholic, practiced capturing a selfie with the pope ahead of the procession.

"The pope's positions always revolve around compassion and love - you know, being a person for others," she said. "Immigration, the environment, it all comes to being compassionate, for others."

During the visit to the United Nations, the Vatican flag was raised there for the first time. The General Assembly recently agreed to allow the U.N.'s two observer states, the Holy See and Palestine, to fly their flags alongside those of the 193 member states.

Although his U.N. remarks on the environment and the economy carried a message many liberals welcomed, Francis also affirmed church doctrine on abortion and sexuality.

Among other things, he called for the "absolute respect for life in all its stages," including the unborn.