>> who was inspired by limber butt mccubbins who is a cat. >> thank you, david schuster. that is our show today, i'm ali velshi, thank you for joining us. >> a mass for the city. ♪ ♪ >> pope francis ends his visit to new york with a solemn service for 20,000 people at madison square garden. message tol to the powerful. pope francis brings his ministry of social justice to the united nations and the largest

gathering of world leaders. decision, speaker of the house john boehner announces he's leaving capitol hill. dinner and diplomacy. after a day of tense meetings and negotiations, president obama hosts a lavish state dinner for the president of china. good evening, i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america. we begin with a historic visit of the people's pope to new yo york. pope francis celebrated mass at madison square garden reminding successful city dwellers to care for the homeless, the elderly, immigrants and the poor. earlier he delivered a speech to the united nations. bisi onile-ere joins us on the

pope's day and a busy day it was. >> it certainly was, a whirlwind tour taking him to capitol hill and the white house. but a more subdued audience awaited him in downtown manhattan friday morning. at ground zero the site of the 9/11 attacks the pope met with families of the victims and prayed at the reflection pools where the twin towers once stood. >> a scene of unspeakable violence. bless you your goodness to give eternal light and peace to all who died here. >> hours later up town and new york's east harlem it was the screams of excited schoolchildren that greeted francis. the pontiff, enthusiastic as he visited our lady queen of angels school.

inside he met with families some of them refugees and immigrants, as well as children, including those who came to the u.s. as unaccompanied miles an hour. anminors and he invoked martin luther king's i have a dream speech. >> his dream was that many children like you could get an education. he dreamt that many women and men like you could walk with your heads held high. >> reporter: before leaving he visited a classroom and even got a lesson in touch screen technology. from harlem amid extraordinary security, francis traveled through central park in his popemobile. throngs of people, an estimated 80,000 who had waited for hours all tried to catch a glimpse as he rode by. >> we love the pope. you know why? because he's good. he's great. >> you see in him, his message of love. and togetherness. and that's what we need in this

world. so that was amazing and he touched my heart. >> reporter: and it was madison square garden where the pope's new york visit came to a close with a mass to some 20,000. >> the pope's homily emphasized themes he has repeated through his u.s. trip, including inequality and the treatment of those he called marginalized. >> translator: big cities also conceal the faces of all those people who don't appear to belong or are second class citizens. in big cities beneath the roar of traffic, beneath the rapt flow of change, many people pass by unnoticed because they have no right to be there, no right to be part of the city. the 90 minute mass concluded with the 78-year-old bishop leaving new york with this final message.

>> please i ask you, don't forget to pray for me. [cheering and applause] >> a lot of the people we talked to tonight said it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the pope and it was well worth the wait antonio. >> thank you bisi. he addressed the largest collection of world leaders in world history at the u.n. his message of peace an environmental justice. john terret has the story. he touched on a number of different topics. >> reporter: he really did, antonio. it was a very, very wide ranging speech, poverty inequality, bleak reference to the refugees i thought but there were really two themes, social justice and climate change. on social justice basically that everybody in the world deserves to have a home, food on the table, water to drink, education

especially girls who he said often he get forgotten when it comes to education, and climate change, this is something that the pontiff feels very, very strongly about, he thinks it's possible for mankind to roll back climate change if we act swiftly and in a smart way. he referred to humanity's right to the environment. take a listen. >> translator: in effect a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources, and to the seclusion of the weak. and the disadvantage. >> and antonio it's worth pointing out that the pontiff used the word environment or environmental on no fewer than 16 occasions in his speech today to the u.n.

>> he mentioned the nuclear arms deal with iran. >> you see ending global war is another of his mantras. ever since he took the office of the upon tifer pontiff. the deal with iran, and five permanent members of the u.n. and germany, to pull together and act responsibly. take a listen. >> translator: the recent agreement reached on the nuclear question on a sensitive region of asia and the middle east is proof of the potential of political goodwill and of law, exercised with sincerity, patience, and constancy. i express my hope that this agreement will be lasting and efficacious and bring forth the desired fruits with the

cooperation of all the parties involved. >> and the pope was listened to by more than 100 leaders in that assembly hall over at the united nations. whether they act on what he said, he certainly pricked their conscience without irritating them too much. he met with u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon, and then had a town hall meeting with 400 members of u.n. staff. normally it's a pop star like bofo or george clooney, but he praised the u.n. workers for the excellent work they do and the risks they take, and at the end of that he said pray for me, if you don't believe then maybe you'll just send some good thoughts my way.

take a look at this if there's time. he did a tour of the building, not in the pope mobile, ban ki-moon's golf cart. i don't know if it's his government cart but sure looks like it. >> thank you john. pope heads to philadelphia, he will celebrate mass at the cathedral of saints peter and paul. tomorrow night the pontiff will preside over a prayer vigil at the world festival of families. while francis was touring new york the speaker of the house was spending time with the pontiff, and announced a bombshell, his resignation from congress. libby casey has the story. >> speaker boehner's announcement sounds like a spontaneous one but one he was mulling over for a long time.

this is his 5th year as speaker, a time full of divisive politics. a shocking announcement are from the man second in line to the presidency. >> last night i started thition about thisthinkingabout this. i said my prayers as i always do, and i said to myself i'm going to do this, as simple as that. >> reporter: after thursday's career highlight, a speech to congress by pope francis he moved up his timing. his last day as speaker, october 30th. some reactions were from those he had conflict with. >> he cares about his constituents and he cares about america. >> reporter: reaction from republicans mixed. >> the speaker made a very humble and class move today.

>> reporter: but others such as presidential candidate marco rubio says it's time to turn the page. >> just a few minutes ago, speaker boehner announced that he will be resigning. >> reporter: the speaker's decision may have been spontaneous but its timing is significant. the congress faces a budget showdown next week. the senate faces a possible shutdown over planned parenthood. planned parenthood. >> we'll find out what comes next in republican caucus. >> who will lead house republicans is up in the air. speaker boehner is endorsing the second in command, california's

kevin mccarthy but negotiations with the white house may rebel, if boehner had decided to stick around he would have faced a challenge from the party's right flank. >> i don't want to put my colleagues through all of this for what? >> the most powerful in washington can think of what's next. >> zipity do-dah. >> just to give you a sense of how divisive the republican caucus is, the house member we heard complimenting the speaker, as classy and humble was actually trying lead the revold to it doesn't look like there's going to be unity here in the house of representatives any time soon. >> libby casey on capitol hill. hillary clinton originally told

investigators her team had turned over all work related e-mails from her private e-mail server but new e-mails found by the state department found more that she didn't share. discussing personnel matters. the state department also admitted friday it had not provided the house benghazi committee with all of the e-mails related to the attacks that clinton turned over. she will appear before the committee next month. leader xi jinping spent the day discussing contentious issues, such as cyberespionage and china's efforts in the south china sea. mike viqueria has the story. >> there are tensions in the relationship between the united

states and its biggest economic rival that's china. call it a gentleman's agreement, president obama and chinese president xi said they would not allow cyber-spying but with him by his side in the rose garden: >> what i said to president xi the question is are words followed by actions. we will be watching carefully to make an assessment as to whether progress has been made in this area. >> reporter: 22 million americans mostly government employees were alleged victims of the recent hack of the office of personnel management. earlier this week an investigation revealed the hack also included 5.6 million sets of fingerprints. while the white house has been comfortable not to lay blame, many believe t lack was caused

by chinese interests. >> both sides agree to set up assistance and information-sharing. >> reporter: this is a state visit, an laboratory form of diplomas, usual reserved for those who share close ties with the united states. but there are still major problems, among them the chinese military buildup on reefs in the south china sea. president obama indicated disagreement. >> i reiterate the right of all countries to freedom of navigation and overflight. and unimpeded commerce. >> xi intac indicated. >> we have a right to uphold our own territorial sovereignty and

maritime rights and interests. >> one area of common ground, climate change, the chinese announced the cap and trade system and pledged $3.1 billion to help poorer countries move away from fossil fuels. outside the white house fence, xi supporters clashed with wiegers and other minorities in china. as china conducts a domestic crack down on civil rights, falling on deaf ears. >> we must recognize that countries have different historical processes. and pursue their path independently. >> the emissions announcement from the obama administration earlier this summer all in advance of a major summit on climate change to be held in paris this december. antonio. >> mike viqueria in washington. still ahead on al jazeera

america, one of the stories speaker of the house john boehner and surprise announcement he's leaving congress. our political correspondent michael shure will explain what it means. and the deadly stampede in mecca sparks request anger in most of the middle east.

>> saudi arabia is suggesting pilgrims are partly to blame for yesterday's hajj stampede that killed more than 700 people. one official said worshipers may not have followed crowd instructions. king salman has called for review of instructions but that has not called some. saudi officials to be held accountable in court.

more now on the surprise announcement in washington today just a day after he hosted pope francis at the capital, house speaker john boehner resigned. boehner rode to power on the tea party rise that gave republicans a majority in the house but lately hard line conservatives have been threa threatening his leadership. boehner says he will leave congress in the end of october. michael shure, was he just fed up with the challenges to his leadership from the more conservative members of his party? >> i think antonio i want to circle all of those answers as correct. john boehner, he has a lot of critics. but there isn't anyone who says he doesn't tell the truth. he considered doing that and wanted to keep the coalition

together at the end of 2014, i think people were more startled than surprised that the speaker stepped down. no republicans wanted to go on the record today but they did say, when i asked them about it, that you know this was something that had been going around for a little while, that the speaker would not serve out his full term, would leave whether it was at the end of this year or the beginning of next year, not out of the blue for a lot of republicans. >> and the likely next speaker could be more amenable to tea party conservatives? >> it may be. kevin mccarthy serves as a bridge from the boehner wing, the classic wing of that party to the very, very conservative wing of that party. but he is also seen in those circles as one of the accolites of john boehner. about 10% of the republican caucus voted against john

boehner earlier this year. you're going to see a little bit of discord. already it seems that daniel webster a republican from florida, did get some votes. mccarthy may have the best shot but for majority leader that's where the tea party thinks they may have the most influence. a tough fight. on capitol hill, a secret meeting of the entire texas delegation of republicans met in pete sessions office and from what i hear he will run for majority leader. a shutdown of the government because of planned parenthood maybe less possible, but could it get worse? >> i don't know if it could get much worse. gridlock is gridlock.

you saw libby casey's report, the value of voters in south carolina, but here is the thing antonio. you have people who are within the party who know exactly how this has worked for a little while. the fundamentals of the way this works haven't changed just because the speaker has changed. >> let's switch over to the democrats before we go. no one was happy are that bjor n boehner resigned than hillary clinton. >> hillary clinton's foibles, have obscured other news cycles in the past. in fact this e-mail story and the state department talking about these released e-mails would have been a bigger story even on a friday night but the pope took that away. but that story is not going to go away.

trey gowdy is going to have the hearings. these will not be things that are buried just because the pope is in town and she is at the white house. >> michael shure, al jazeera political contributor always great to have you with us. the efforts to get joe biden to join the race for the white house, the draft biden political action committee that supports him, those staffers will begin building operations in the 11 states holding primaries on supertuesday in 2016. still ahead on al jazeera america, volkswagen is trying to remake its image with a new ceo. passing off cars as cleaner than they really are.

>> every saturday night. >> i lived that character.

>> the head of world soccer's governing body is now under investigation in switzerland. prosecutors say in both deals the financial interests of fifa were compromised. blatter denies the accusations. he has not been arrested or indicted. he is expected to step down in february. volkswagen has a new boss in the driver's seat. after naming mattias muller. the veteran of almost 40 years. the auto giant has admitted to an emissions rigging scandal involving 8 million cars. rob reynolds has more from berlin. >> hard on the heels of the volkswagen emissions testing scandal comes a new report

showing that the few efficiency of european made cars is far lower than what their manufacturers claim. >> translator: consumers are being lied to for many years already. and within the last few years the discrepancies is getting larger. >> reporter: the international council on clean transportation reports says the difference between the sales brochure figures and the real world has reached an all time high. with normal road and highway driving consuming 40% more fuel than under car makers' laboratory conditions. the gap between laboratory test results and real world driving is explained by vehicle manufacturers exploiting loopholes in the current regulation the report says. lab test efficiency figures can be manipulated by using special over inflated tires, sealing windows and doors with tape to

defeat air resistance and other measures. >> the results ar that are achid in the laboratory are not matched with those vehicles in use. what we need is a test cycle that more accurately reveals the driving capabilities. >> lower efficiency mean individual cars produce more greenhouse gases, and pollution affecting human health than they realized environmentalists say. >> causing four to 500,000 proo0 premature deaths. nobody thought about taking action until right now. >> the fuel efficiency gap has an impact not only on global climate and people's lungs. it also affects their wallets. the report says the discrepancies means that car owners will spend an extra 450

euros or about $500 on fuel every year. rob reynolds, al jazeera, berlin. >> i'm antonio mora, thanks for joining us, ali velshi is up next with third rail. have a great weekend. >> i'm ali velshi. this is a special edition of "third rail." the fervor of pope francis's visit underscores how many are devoted to religion. but that seems at odds with the u.s. constitution which never once mentions god. ists a tension in american life that began with the country's founding and may never be resolved.