The Pope also signaled his support for an end to the USA embargo on Cuba, without explicitly mentioning the issue, when he said: “When countries which have been at odds resume the path of dialogue – a dialogue which may have been interrupted for the most legitimate of reasons – new opportunities open up for all“.
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“It felt like energy went right through my hand”.
Students broke out in chatter and some applauded, along with the members of Congress shown on the screen.
The day Pope Francis addressed Congress in Washington, D.C., Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, a Catholic, told reporters in Virginia that the pope’s opinion should not be taken too seriously.
Mr Obama said Francis was “shaking us out of our complacency” with reminders to care for the poor and the planet.
Correspondents say the subject matter for the Pope’s speech may range from the environment to the economy. But Cathy Ruse of the Family Research Council points out the pope stated is it is “our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of development”.
In his first-ever visit to the White House, Pope Francis on Wednesday declared climate change is a problem that can no longer be left to future generations.
As “a way of seeing and interpreting reality”, Pope Francis offered the examples of four great Americans-Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., and two 20th Century American Catholics, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.
Majdena Rendon, an undocumented mother living in Arizona, woke up early on Thursday hoping to hear Pope Francis talk about immigration in his address to Congress. She, along with several others who gathered at 7 a.m.in Phoenix to watch the pope’s speech, weren’t disappointed. “It is I who follow the Church … my doctrine on all this … on economic imperialism, is that of the social doctrine of the Church”.
Francis became the fifth pope to visit the United Nations, and his appearance brought enormous security precautions and an electric atmosphere. He reminded us that, whatever our policy differences might be, we are all called to put the good of our people above all.
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As for the issue of homosexuality, Ruse says he did address that when he said he can’t hide his concern for the family, which is threatened perhaps as never before.
