Pope Francis has been welcomed to New York by thousands of enthusiastic Catholics and curious onlookers.
The pontiff began the 40-hour stay with an evening prayer service at St Patrick's Cathedral and was met by people lining the street leading to the church, cheering, waving and chanting his name.
As he entered the cathedral, making his way down the long aisle towards the altar, he stopped to greet people, including a girl in a wheelchair and a woman holding a baby.
During the service he raised the sex abuse crisis that has embarrassed the Catholic church, telling current priests that he was aware they had "suffered greatly" by having to "bear the shame" of their colleagues.
He also prayed for the hundreds of Muslim victims of the Hajj stampede in Saudi Arabia, saying that he wanted to offer a "sentiment of closeness in light of the tragedy".
The visit includes a speech at the United Nations that includes a call for openness towards immigrants and the need for the richer countries of the world to share what they have with the poor.
Earlier in the day he spoke to Congress in Washington DC, sharing a similar message, pleading with Americans not to be afraid of immigrants and to share the country's wealth with the disadvantaged.
He noted that many of those in the parliamentary chamber were descended from immigrants and that the country was founded by foreigners.
He said: "We must not be taken aback by their numbers but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation.
"Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves."
His words may also be noticed in Europe, where the region's leaders are struggling to cope with the worst refugee crisis since World War II as tens of thousands of people flee war zones in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as poverty and repressive regimes in parts of Africa.
The US has not been immune from this phenomenon, with tens of thousands of families and unaccompanied children crossing its southern border, escaping violence in Central America
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