Pope Francis bid farewell to New York this morning and set off for Philadelphia, the last leg of his U.S. trip.

The pontiff took off from JFK International Airport at around 9 a.m. He spent a busy two days in the city, with a Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, a speech at the United Nations, a visit to Ground Zero, a stop at a Harlem school, a ride through Central Park and a Mass at Madison Square Garden before a crowd of 18,000.

The pope now heads to the City of Brotherly Love, where he will take part in a weekend of activities, including a Vatican-organized rally that will culminate in an outdoor Mass for 1 million people.

He will be the star attraction at the World Meeting of Families, a conference for more than 18,000 people from around the world. The pope will speak at Independence Hall, where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and will do so from the lectern Abraham Lincoln used to deliver the Gettysburg Address.

On Saturday night, on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the cultural heart of the city, he will be serenaded by Aretha Franklin and other performers at a festival celebrating families, and will return there Sunday for the Mass, his last major event before leaving that night for Rome.