it looks like thus far, i should say that it may change in coming days. particularly because pope francis is due to take a long motorcade through central park tomorrow afternoon. and that s an event for which new york city has ticketed 80,000 people. so presumably that will be more of a people s experience of the pope. right now at least so far the first dave his trip to new york is not like his trip to washington. the bells are peeling. ken langone is lined up with other people to greet him on the steps of st. patrick s cathedral. and the helicopter to the popemobile to the cathedral, it is a journey that affords occasional distant glimpses of white cloth but so far he s hived off. and it s too bad. nobody would argue, though, that it is an unreasonable precaution. when pope francis spoke today in congress with unusual
he s just concluding a vespers service. vespers from the latin evening, for evening prayer service. thanks is given for the day that has fallen and prepare for the day ahead. the pope did say a few words in spanish before the assembled congregation. he began that service by reaching out to his muslim brothers and sisters to wish them a happy eid and a celebration of the sacrifice they have today and to say he felt close to those who are mourning in the wake of the tragedy of the stampede that happened earlier today in mecca in which hundreds died. he went on to thank the women of the church, for which he received a standing ovation from the delighted nuns in the back. you can see people of all walks of life packed into st. patrick s cathedral. dignitaries assembled waiting just hours earlier for the pope as a choir sings at the conclusion of this service.
i think he s been misinterpret considerably. i think the pope even said that on his first day, that he s been made out to be something he s not. but i think the history of the church, the church lays foundational principles. in this case the fundamental value of every human life. and then builds off of that. but everything he said was consistent with church doctrine. some folks thought he might have said more. others thought he might have said less about particular topics. but most of the folks i talked to if not all were very comfortable and very inspired. particularly the non-catholics. this is a pope that has achieved very quickly celebrity status, particularly among non-catholics. you know, as a catholic i appreciated the opportunity he had to evangelize and talk about 2,000 years of church teaching on issues such as life, marriage and family and religious liberty which i think was about the first issue he brought up with the president. all right. congressman tim huelskamp, repub
reporter: so now they re beginning to move here. you see the convoy slowly edging off. this is not going to be a slow trip. you can imagine that after the incredible day that pope francis has had, the poor man probably just needs a little sleep. all right. i want to bring in now nbc news correspondent ron mott who is on 59th street and 5th avenue just up from where the pope departed st. patrick s cathedral. he is coming your way, ron. reporter: yes, he is coming this way. he is probably a good block and a half away. we re just at the corner of 59th street and 5th avenue, which of course is the start of central park. and the pontiff is heading up to the upper eastside, about a half a mile, chris, up on east 72nd street where he will take rest for the night. so i think the crowd here is significantly smaller than we saw for the arrival. and because so many people expected to see him in the popemobile and he goes by there s the fiat there.
see the pope in person. from madison square garden, the next leg of the trip is to philadelphia. thank you for that. the big event for the pope s first night in new york is the prayer service at st. patrick s cathedral. francis led prayers in english and he delivered the homily in spanish. he began with a prayer for more than 700 victims of the hajj stampede in mecca. victims he called his muslim brothers and sisters. more than 2,000 people, mostly clergy, saw the pope leave the cathedral. thousands more outside the cathedral hoping to get a glimpse of the holy father. jas jason carroll was among them. reporter: these people have been out here since early thursday morning waiting hours to get a glimpse of the pope. these people did not have tickets, but wanted to come to