“It is my hope and belief that his message of equality, tolerance, human dignity, world peace and rejecting a mindset of hostility resonated and served as an inspiration not just to us in Congress, but to the entire country”.
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“This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty”, Pope Francis said. “We’re going to see the pope”, said Brett Gajewski. But inequality, poverty, the environment and religious persecution may also be among the issues he highlights for the global audience. He also noted one his heroes, American Thomas Merton, a Cistercian monk, who Francis said had “the capacity for dialogue and openness to God”.
After the address, Francis took to Capitol’s balcony to talk to the estimated 50,000 people awaiting him on the lawn. He spoke of their great achievements and sacrifices, and how they served to inspire many by their good works.
While his visit marks the fifth time a pope has been to the United Nations, the Vatican’s gold-and-white flag will be raised for the first time just before his arrival. It struck a nerve in most of those members. (D-10th Dist.): “Pope Francis reminded us that we all have a role to play in protecting and meeting the needs of our nation’s most vulnerable populations”.
On Thursday evening, thousands cheered as Francis waved from his popemobile along Fifth Avenue en route to St. Patrick’s Cathedral for evening prayers. Those are qualities that are vital and in some respect natural to Americans.
His reference to the Golden Rule was Francis’ biggest applause line.
In Washington earlier Thursday, the pope waded into bitter disputes while speaking to Congress, entreating the nation to share its huge wealth with those less fortunate. Vice President Joe Biden is at center.
Lawmakers gave rousing ovations despite obvious disagreements over some of his pleas.
Finally, he implicitly took on same-sex marriage, emphasizing the importance of family life.
“We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners”, Francis, a native of Argentina, declared. During the momentous speech, Pope Francis said that people should “do unto others as they do to you, as you will have them do unto you“, and that Americans should show the same “compassion with which we want to be treated”.
“Is this not what we want for our own children?” implored the 78-year-old Argentine pontiff, himself the son of European immigrants to the Americas.
A paragraph in the prepared text quotes briefly from the Declaration of Independence – the passage on self-evident truths – and then says, “If politics must truly be at the service of the human person, it follows that it can not be a slave to the economy and finance”.
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“His heart, in itself, you can see that reflected through his message”, said Filipina Opena, 46, a Catholic from LaMirada, California, as tour groups and families walked among Philadelphia’s historic sites, taking pictures ahead of the pope’s visit.
