In his first visit to New York City, the center of global finance and capitalism, Pope Francis used his remarks on Thursday evening to encourage the hundreds of clergy members, brothers and nuns gathered in St. Patrick’s Cathedral to live humbly and resist the temptation to treat their ministries as businesses, with success measured strictly by the bottom line.
“We can get caught up measuring the value of our apostolic works by the standards of efficiency, good management and outward success which govern the business world,” he told them in Spanish. Similarly, he said, they should guard against surrounding themselves with material comfort, as that can separate them from the poor they are intended to serve.
“Rest is needed, as are moments of leisure and self-enrichment, but we need to learn how to rest in a way that deepens our desire to serve with generosity,” he said.
They were pointed, if fatherly, remarks that echoed the themes he has stressed in his papacy but ones that resonated all the more in a newly renovated cathedral surrounded by the luxurious shops of Fifth Avenue.
PhotoCredit Todd Heisler/The New York TimesFrancis arrived in the city on Thursday, his plane touching down at Kennedy International Airport shortly after 5 p.m. to start the second leg of his six-day visit to the United States.
Several schoolchildren greeted the pontiff as he walked off the plane. He chatted amiably, giving each child a pat on the head. He laughed when he was handed a bobblehead version of himself before taking a short helicopter ride to Manhattan, where the streets were lined with adoring crowds.
Francis changed cars from his modest Fiat to the widely recognized popemobile for a slow drive down Fifth Avenue. Dressed in his white vestments, the pope smiled widely and waved as people scrambled to capture the moment on their smartphones, chanting in Spanish “Francisco, Francisco.”
He was greeted at the cathedral by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who seemed to enjoy an unusual moment of bonhomie as they waited for Francis, as well as Senator Chuck Schumer.
Speaking earlier before the nation’s leaders in Washington, the pope urged lawmakers to combat the dangers posed by climate change, show compassion for immigrants and refugees, and work toward peace in a world too often divided by war and conflict.
PhotoCredit Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesIn New York, Francis will extend his message to leaders from around the world on Friday morning when he addresses a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
During his brief but busy stay in the city, the pope will combine policy speeches and prayer, public spectacle and private outreach. Even before the arrival of the papal plane, the city has been gripped by a sense of anticipation rarely seen in a town not easily fazed by celebrity.
At St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which underwent a $177 million renovation, the excitement was palpable hours before his arrival for evening prayers known as vespers. Starting at 3 p.m., the pews in the newly restored white marble sanctuary began to fill with nearly 2,500 priests, nuns and lay people.
Zaida Arce, 58, of the Bronx, who got a ticket to attend because she serves on an archdiocesan council, had a stroke last weekend and thought she would be too ill to attend.
“I am kind of in shock a little bit, blessed, and feeling unworthy,” she said. “Because honest to goodness, I never expected to be here.”
PhotoCredit Damon Winter/The New York TimesA few pews over, Kelli Nyre sat with her son, Henry, 11, who was among the few children in attendance. “It is really overwhelming to be here,” she said. “I feel an overwhelming sense of peace.”
Mario Perez, 43, who has used a wheelchair for 30 years, was among the thousands who lined Fifth Avenue as the pope made his way to St. Patrick’s. He said he came for the sake of his mother, Olga Perez, 66, who immigrated to the United States from Honduras.
“I’m proud to be here,” she said. “It’s all my dreams.”
Francis is the fourth pope to visit the city. Wide areas of Manhattan have been closed to traffic, and thousands of police officers and Secret Service agents have been dispatched as part of one of the most sweeping security efforts in the city’s history.
Among the security measures is a mile-long eight-foot-tall fence up the west side of Central Park that helps create a corridor with one goal: keeping screened spectators in and unscreened people out.
Continue reading the main storyNews and features on Pope Francis’ visit to Washington, New York and Philadelphia in September, his first visit ever.
Francis’ visit comes at a difficult time for the New York Archdiocese. Hurt by declining church attendance, a dwindling number of priests and financial troubles, the archdiocese closed dozens of churches this summer as part of the largest reorganization in its history.
Opponents of the reorganization have cited Francis’ call for a “poor church for the poor,” arguing that the archdiocese is taking away important services for the neediest. The archdiocese says it cannot be effective if it is saddled with the cost of maintaining a crumbling infrastructure that was built for an earlier era.
Francis, echoing remarks he made to a gathering of bishops in Washington, made note of the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the church. He said that many in the room had to “bear the shame of some of your brothers who harmed and scandalized the church.”
Advocates for victims criticized the comments, however, saying Francis should have also addressed the victims.
One section in the pope’s speech at St. Patrick’s drew applause: his thanks to America’s nuns.
“In a special way I would like to express my esteem and gratitude to the religious women of the United States. What would the church be without you?” he said, the crowd of thousands rising to their feet. “Women of strength, fighters, with that spirit of courage which puts you in the front lines in the proclamation of the Gospel.”
Find out more by searching for it!