Pope Francis to visit USA next year

Pope Francis will visit the United States next year, he said in a speech Monday.

“I wish to confirm according to the wishes of the Lord, that in September of 2015, I will go to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families,” the pontiff said while speaking at a conference on family values at the Vatican.

The Catholic News Agency said Pope Francis will also visit New York, although that prospect was not directly mentioned in his speech.

The World Meeting of Families, an event that occurs every three years to promote family values, takes place in Philadelphia Sept. 22-27. The event may draw a crowd of about 1 million people, according to the CNA.

It will be the first time the meeting will be held in the USA and comes during a time of transition for the church.

“We know that today marriage and the family are in crisis,” Pope Francis said in his speech at the conference.

“We now live in a culture of the temporary, in which more and more people are simply giving up on marriage as a public commitment.

“This revolution in manners and morals has often flown the flag of freedom, but in fact it has brought spiritual and material devastation to countless human beings, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.”

Source: USA Today