Pope Francis visits Philadelphia

Pope Francis joined hundreds of thousands of the faithful Sunday for the last and biggest event of his joyful, six-day U.S. visit — a Mass on Philadelphia’s grandest boulevard — after meeting with victims of the church sex abuse scandal and offering words of hope to jail inmates.

Riding through the streets in his open-sided popemobile, the pontiff waved to cheering, sceaming, singing, flag-waving crowds as he made his way up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and reached the altar at the foot of the broad steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

It was the final stop on his itinerary before the 78-year-old pontiff was to return to Rome. (AP)

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