Pope Francis has told the closing session of the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia that families were a “factory of hope” and urged they be cared for and protected – particularly children and the elderly. CNN reports the Pope gave an off-the-cuff monologue in Spanish after hearing from six families from the US, Australia, Ukraine, Jordan, Nigeria, and Argentina about their joys and struggles. He will celebrate an outdoor Mass later today, speak to a group of clergy and visit a prison before ending a six-day visit to the US

Fox News says Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to establish a €1.8 billion fund to assist developing countries and to significantly increase investment. Addressing a UN summit on development goals, Xi also said China would cancel debts to the world’s least developed nations.

Meanwhile, Gramma says Cuban President Raul Castro took aim at the US embargo against his country, describing it as the “main obstacle” to his country’s economic development. Making his first visit to the UN, Castro hailed the re-establishment of relations with Washington as a “major progress” but stressed that the embargo was unfinished business.

According to La Vanguardia, 5.5 million Catalans are set to vote in the Spanish region’s parliamentary elections – framed by separatist parties as a proxy referendum on independence which will show whether a majority of Catalans want to split from Spain or stay part of the country.

The Irish Times reports thousands of people marched in Dublin on Saturday calling for an overhaul of Ireland’s strict abortion laws, as a campaign for change gathers momentum ahead of the upcoming general election. Abortion in Ireland is allowed only when there is risk to the life of the mother, rather than just her health.

La Prensa says thousands of people have marched in Mexico City calling for an explanation for the disappearances of 43 students a year ago. The students were travelling to Iguala to protest what they considered discriminatory hiring and funding practices. An official investigation reported that the students, who had been apprehended by police before they reached the town, were handed over to the local drug cartel which later killed them, burned their bodies at a dump and threw their remains in plastic bags into a river.

Saleh Maskhout, named as the man killed in a shootout in Tripoli is alive and well and living in Zuwara, his family say. Speaking to the Libya Herald, his nephew also denied that his uncle had ever been involved in people smuggling or been a member of a militia. He worked for a government company and was in Zuwara, he said.

Volkswagen subsidiary Seat will be required to return subsidies it received from the Spanish government to produce “efficient vehicles”. Spain’s industry minister Jose Manuel Soria told El Pais he expected Seat to tell his ministry how many vehicles it had produced and sold both inside and outside Spain using software which cheats diesel engine emissions tests.

NY Daily News quotes a Health Department report which reveals that the Big Apple is home to over 576,000 cats. The statistics do not include armies of strays wandering the streets of the five boroughs. The highest number of felines is in Staten Island.

FIFA has been “decimated” by scandal, Prince Ali bin al Hussein, a candidate to become president of football’s world body, said yesterday after its president, Sepp Blatter, was placed under criminal investigation. France Football says the prince, a former FIFA vice-president who challenged Blatter in an election this year, said the scandals highlighted “the need for new leadership that can restore the credibility of FIFA”.