As Francis departs: what comes next?

Papal tours always provoke an element of hysteria. It's the celeb factor, combined with the intoxicating feeling that even “bad” Catholics get, feeling they are part of a worldwide family.

But this was different.

There were Protestants and Jews, Muslims and atheists, and any number of “religion-doesn't-interest-me”-s among the cheering crowds in Washington and New York. For six days, Pope Francis dominated national TV networks, and when I grabbed something to eat at the end of an exhausting day, I was astonished to see young people in fast food restaurants watching “the people's pope” as they munched their burgers and fries.

One New York newspaper compared the pope's frenzied welcome in “the city that never sleeps” to a Justin Bieber concert. Somewhat more reflectively, a leading US news magazine said, “Seeing America through Francis' eyes is a mysterious and magical experience for much of the nation.” This pope believes that we discover the ultimate meaning of life when we open our hearts to the most vulnerable among us. That is also what he meant when he told homeless people in Washington on Thursday: “I need you. I need your closeness.”

In this divided nation, in which the language of political discourse is often venomous and vindictive, and ordinary Americans sense an unbridgeable gap between Wall Street and Main Street, let alone the dangerous neighborhoods on “the wrong side of the tracks,” this humble, down-to-earth visionary has offered hope of a better future for all, a future based not on individual greed and ambition but on concern for the poor and most vulnerable. “The ultimate test of your greatness,” he told America, “is the way you treat every human being, especially the weak and the most defenseless.”

It was all deeply moving but – forgive what seems a cynical question – will it really change anything? Won't the tide of goodwill quickly ebb and the visit itself soon be forgotten? Well, it's hard to say.

When Pope Francis told cheering Hispanic immigrants in Philadelphia on Saturday that their faith and family values would not only help them to find their place in American society but to renew that society from within, his statement may have been prophetic. I like to think so.

The lectern he used was the same one from which Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in 1863. In that famous speech, which has inspired Americans for nearly two centuries, Lincoln said, “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here.” Happily, he was wrong.

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