Pope Francis to bullied US teen: 'Can you sing for me?'

Pope Francis on Monday spoke by satellite with audiences in Chicago, Los Angeles and McAllen, Texas ahead of his upcoming US visit. During the event, a 17-year-old girl in Chicago named Valerie Herrera, a high school senior, wept as she told Francis she'd been bullied because of a rare skin condition and had turned to music for comfort. He said in English he would like to hear her sing. When she hesitated, he told her to "be courageous." "I was so nervous, and we were talking and I started crying because of the nerves," Herrera told WLS-TV in Chicago. She said she learned the song, "By You, Mary," years ago in choir and it's the first one that came to mind. She sang in Spanish, and he smiled and thanked her. Francis will make his first visit to the United States starting Sept. 22 in Washington, then moving to New York and Philadelphia. "I'm praying for all of you, the people of the United States, and I ask you to pray for me," Francis said.