Pope Francis scorecard: liberals take away biggest wins from pontiff's US visit

Religion correspondent Harriet Sherwood recaps pope's stance on climate change, immigration, poverty and other key themes of his six-day trip

Expectations among American Catholics were high for the pope's first visit to the US. Those on the liberal wing of the church hoped that Francis would focus on his signature themes of poverty and climate change; conservative Catholics were looking for papal reinforcement of their opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

On the plane to Washington DC from Cuba, Francis sought to play down the notion that he was a leftwing pope. He told reporters he "may have given the impression of being a little more to the left, but it would not be a correct interpretation." His doctrine was the doctrine of the church, he said: "Nothing more, nothing less."