"I want to thank you, Mr. President, for the warm welcome," the Pope said Jan. 19. "You must have worked some extra hours."
On Sunday a massive crowd of 6 to 7 million gathered for his final Mass at Rizal Park in Manila. The Pope's homily stressed Christians' identity as God's children and called for the protection of the family against "insidious attacks and programs contrary to all that we hold true and sacred, all that is most beautiful and noble in our culture."
Before the Mass, Pope Francis attended a youth rally for tens of thousands of people at the University Santo Tomaso in Manila. He heard the heartbreaking testimony of two formerly homeless young adolescents. He urged everyone present to "learn how to weep" with those who suffer.
"If you don't learn how to cry, you can't be good Christians," he emphasized.
On Saturday Pope Francis celebrated Mass near the Tacloban airport on the major island of Leyte, which suffered heavily in the December 2013 Supertyphoon Haiyan.
He set aside his prepared homily to speak to the congregation, many of whom had lost loved ones and homes in the disaster.