NEW YORK, June 25 (UPI) -- Billy Graham, the United States' most famous Christian evangelist, launched what may be his final religious crusade at a New York prayer rally.
The 86-year-old preacher, who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, fluid on the brain and Parkinson's disease, received a standing ovation from the crowd of over 50,000 people, the BBC reported Saturday. Graham had earlier told reporters that the New York mass meeting might be his last one.
Graham is scheduled to speak again tonight and Sunday night.
The pastor told the crowd the most important need in the world is love.
"The greatest need in the world today is for the transformation of human nature to make us love instead of hate," Graham said.
Credited with helping start the evangelical movement in the United States, Graham is thought to have preached to more people around the world than the late Pope John Paul II. President George W. Bush has publicly thanked him for helping to turn his life around.
