![\"20151001-03\"](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/20151001-03.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo \u00a9 Renato Araujo<\/p><\/div> The Pope concluded his visit in the city of Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence and the Consitution of the United States had been written. <\/strong>It was a historic visit that had a deep effect the people of the United States. At Independence Hall, a central landmark,with his usual smile Pope Francis clarified that he is niether right nor left. He highlighted the importance of religious liberty and dialogue in an increasingly multicultural society, emphasising what is positive in the people of the United States: \u201cWe remember the great struggles that led to the abolition of slavery, the extension of the vote, the growth of the workers movement and the progressive efforts to eliminate every form of racism and prejudice directed towards successive waves of new Americans,\u201d the Pope said. He extended special greetings to Hispanic immigrants<\/a> from a Pope who was the son of an immigrant family: <\/strong>\u201cYou bring with you many talents to your new land. Never be ashamed of your traditions,\u201d he told an applauding crowd. He mentioned the fervid faith and family deep family values of the Hispanic population: \u201cAs you make your contribution, you will not only establish yourselves here, but you will help to renew society from within.\u201d Jennifer Huertas from Puerto Rico, who has been living in the United States for two years: \u201cThe Pope asks us not to forget our roots, and to recognise the uniqueness of every individual. Yes, diversity isn\u2019t something bad, because every human being is unique.\u201d A few hours later, he attended the conclusion of the<\/strong> World Meeting of Families<\/a> with young and older families, singles, men and women Religious and priests who had prepared the city with particular care. After listening to six testimonies from couples and families who recounted how they tried to overcome their struggles through faith in God, the Pope delivered a very animated homily<\/a>, highlighting the importance of family life. A boy had asked him what God was doing before He created the world: \u201cGod loved, because God is Love,\u201d the Pope answered. His words enchanted the half million people <\/strong>who had waited for hours along Benjamin Franklin Parkway. \u201cIt was fantastic to see the Pope,\u201d says Thea from Los Angeles. \u201cI especially liked when he pointed out that God had not placed Jesus in the midst of a Kingdom, but in a family. Nowadays, very few people visit their parents, many of my friends live like that and it\u2019s painful. It\u2019s not always easy in my own family either, it is often hard to listen deeply to one another, but the Pope\u2019s words will help me to face this difficulty.\u201d On the following day, the crowds continued to wait patiently to hear the Pope, singing and dancing as they waited in long lines at security checkpoints. Never loosing their cool, they smiled and thanked the police officers for their work. \u201cMy son turned 2 today, but my wife and I thought that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that couldn\u2019t be missed,\u201d one security officer said. Photo \u00a9 Andrea Re<\/p><\/div> Around a million people attended the Mass and, another million watched it on television. Francis greeted everyone and blessed children before the Mass began with Scripture readings in Spanish and Vietnamese. The liturgical readings of that Sunday contained strong words, where Moses and Jesus both affirmed that even people who do not belong to their group could perform miracles in the Lord\u2019s name. \u201cWe must not be scandalised by the freedom of God,\u201d the Pope told the crowd. Then he invited families to perform small gestures of love and compassion: a warm meal after a long workday, a warm embrace: \u201cLove is shown in the small things,\u201d he said. This means being \u201cprophets,\u201d overcoming the \u201cscandal of a love that is restricted and petty\u201d and he sent a clear message <\/a>to the Church that must accept diveristy and trust the action of the Holy Spirit. He also had other significant encounters<\/strong>: with prisoners<\/a>, and the survivors of sexual abuse by the clergy<\/a>; regarding which the Pope said \u201cGod weeps.\u201d It is like a Black Mass, \u201cthere are no excuses.\u201d His six-day visit was a breath of fresh air<\/strong>, not only for the American Catholic Church, but for the whole country. The Pope highlighted the cultural values of the land beginning from the country\u2019s founding, and he invited Americans to be faithful to those values: love, family, the dignity of every human being, caring for the poor. While leaving the United States, he sent a message on Twitter: <\/strong>\u201cWith my gratitude, may Christ\u2019s love continue to guide the American people! #GodBlessAmerica.\u201d Susanne Janssen and Sarah Mundell – <\/em>Living City Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From immigration to the celebration of Mass for the crowds. How Pope Francis changed the face of the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-327602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>