Pope wraps up joyful US visit with open-air Mass

Staff/wire report

PHILADELPHIA

Pope Francis urged hundreds of thousands of the faithful gathered Sunday for the biggest event of his U.S. visit to be open to “miracles of love,” closing out his joyful six-day trip with a message of hope for families, consolation for victims of child sexual abuse and a warning to America’s bishops.

The wide Benjamin Franklin Parkway overflowed with the jubilant, who stood in line for hours and endured airport-style security checks to see history’s first pope from the Americas celebrate an open-air Mass in the birthplace of the United States.

Some Valley residents were in Philadelphia for the chance of getting close to Francis.

“The majority of the group had a fun experience,” said David Schmidt, director of the Office of Pro-Life, Marriage and Family Life in the Diocese of Youngstown.

“This experience reminded me of the Universal Catholic Church. Receiving the Eucharist at the Papal Mass brought tears to my eye,” said Linda Schneider from St. Joseph Parish in Alliance. “This truly is a once in a lifetime experience with beautiful people of all ages and nationalities.”

“There was much patience around us as we waited, a kind of peace among the massive crowds of fellow pilgrims; joyful anticipation,” said Theresa D’Angelo from St. Rose Parish in Girard. “He passed about 100 feet from our Youngstown Diocese group, stopped a moment, kissed a baby.”

The Mass – the last major event on Francis’ itinerary before the 78-year-old pontiff boarded a plane for the flight home to Rome – was a brilliant tableau of gold, green, white and purple in the evening sunlight of a mild early-autumn day.

Riding through the streets in his open-sided popemobile, the pontiff waved to cheering, screaming, singing, flag-waving crowds and kissed babies as he made his way to the altar at the steps of the columned Philadelphia Museum of Art.

With a towering golden crucifix behind him, Francis told his listeners that their presence itself was “a kind of miracle in today’s world,” an affirmation of the family and the power of love.

“Would that all of us could be open to miracles of love for the sake of all the families of the world,” he said to the hushed crowd spread out along the tree-lined boulevard before him.

Crowds a mile away fell silent during the Communion part of the Mass. Some people knelt on the paving stones at City Hall, a few blocks from the altar.

Organizers had predicted 1 million people would attend the Mass. There was no immediate estimate of the crowd. But some people got tired of waiting in line and gave up, while others may have been scared away altogether by the heavy security and weeks of dire warnings from the city about the potential disruptions.

Train ridership was lower than expected, downtown hotel rooms went unfilled over the weekend, normally bustling city streets were deserted, some businesses closed early, and many Philadelphians complained that the precautions were oppressive.

Earlier in the day, Francis had a more solemn message for families scarred by the sins of the church itself.

The pope met with five victims of child sexual abuse and told them he was “deeply sorry” for the times they came forward to tell their stories and weren’t believed. He assured them that he believes them and that bishops who covered up for abusers will be made to answer for what they did.

“I pledge to you that we will follow the path of truth wherever it may lead,” Francis said in Spanish. “Clergy and bishops will be held accountable when they abuse or fail to protect children.”

Minutes later, he went into a meeting of bishops from the U.S. and around the world who were in town for a Catholic festival on the family and told them the same thing.

“God weeps” over what was done to the youngsters, he lamented.

The pope has agreed to create a new Vatican tribunal to prosecute bishops who failed to protect their flock, and he has accepted the resignations of three U.S. bishops accused of mishandling abuse cases.

During his first meeting with victims, held at the Vatican in July 2014, Francis similarly vowed to hold bishops accountable, but Sunday marked the first time that he had warned the bishops themselves, face-to-face, and in public.

In an apparent effort to reshape the discussion, though, the Vatican said not all the victims at the meeting had been abused by clergy; some were violated by relatives or educators. The choice of victims underscored the Vatican’s argument that child molestation is not unique to the church.

Victim support groups were unimpressed by the meeting, which took place at a seminary on the edge of Philadelphia and lasted more than a half-hour.

The main victims’ support group, SNAP, dismissed it as an exercise in public relations.

“Is a child anywhere on Earth safer now that a pope, for maybe the seventh or eighth time or ninth time, has briefly chatted with abuse victims? No,” said SNAP’s David Clohessy.