When Pope Francis arrived outside of Our Lady Queen of Angels School in East Harlem, the students were so excited that many started crying out. They were holding up rosaries and flags and cell phones so they could snap selfies with the beaming Pope Francis. Pope is also famously known for his selfies and the Oxford dictionary added ‘selfie’ as a new word when Pope’s selfie picture went viral through social media.

As Pope Francis entered a classroom, a group of children gathered from four different local Catholic schools greeted him in song. They sang the lyrics of "Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace," known as the Prayer of St. Francis. Pope encouraged them to sing louder.

"Keep dreaming about living with joy," the pope told a group of students and faculty gathered to hear him speak. "...you have the right to dream and I am really happy that you...you can find the discipline to do it."

Our Lady Queen of Angels School, serves an economically struggling and mostly immigrant community of Latinos and African Americans. The Catholic Church in East Harlem was shut down in 2007 during the national trend of parish closures in the United States, caused by low attendance, a shortage of priests and financial troubles. Local people now hope that with the visit of Pope Francis, the New York Archdiocese will help to reopen the closed church.