Apart from the obvious relevance to the pope’s forceful calls for the United States and Europe to welcome people arriving at their borders, the mention was a reminder of his biography.
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Just before the Pope arrived, Obama had tweeted: “Welcome to the White House, @Pontifex!”
Near the Washington Monument, the Kolodzieski family from Apex, N.C., made their own paper papal bishop’s mitres and claimed a spot along Constitution Avenue. “Papa!” people yelled. “Papa!” In a firm message to those who doubt the science of climate change, he said the warming planet “demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition” of the world that will be left to today’s children.
Obama is speaking at a crowded welcome ceremony for the pope on the South Lawn of the White House.
He then called on America to build “a society which is truly tolerant and inclusive”, and that safeguards the rights of its people and communities, as well as rejecting “every form of unjust discrimination”.
In this photo provided by L’Osservatore Romano, President Barack Obama meets with Pope Francis at the White House in Washington, September 23, 2015.
“All are called to be vigilant, ‘ he said, “to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it”.
Francis, who is in the United States through Sunday, said he did not have a specific plan in mind for the bishops to rejuvenate their ailing church. The American public’s interest in the Catholic Church right now seems to begin and end with Pope Francis – as a global celebrity, charismatic spiritual leader, and transformative political figure.
Climate change is one of several issues on which the pope and the president agree, though Republicans in Congress have blocked many of Obama’s efforts to address the issue by law.
Pope Francis and the Obamas wave from the White House balcony:The pope praised Obama for focusing on the environment and the need to cut air pollution, calling it “encouraging”.
“He will have a little vehicle that he will drive on a route kind of around the White House lawn part of the National Mall”.
“There’s so much hysteria about the Pope coming, and you know, he’s a likable guy”, says Judy Lorenz, another protester standing with Ianni. “Your messages of love, hope, and peace have inspired us all”.
The pope’s remarks were brief, yet pointed. It is the pope’s first trip to the United States. An hour and a half after their protest started, two young journalists – one holding a camera, the other a microphone – stop by for an interview. She, too, wants the Pope to move on disciplining bishops as soon as possible.
On Wednesday, the pope will also canonise a Spanish friar who brought the Catholic faith to California.
On his plane on the way to Washington, the Pope admitted he “may have given the impression of being a little more to the left, but it would not be a correct interpretation”. “It was a pretty nice experience seeing him and actually shaking his hand and taking a picture with him”, she told NBC News.
Pope Francis on Wednesday told U.S. Roman Catholic bishops that crimes of sexual abuse of minors by clergy should never be repeated, acknowledging the damage caused by years of scandal in the US Catholic Church.
An estimate calculated by BishopAccountability.org found that there have been at least 17,200 victims of clerical abuse in the US. This year, three bishops resigned over their failures to protect children.
Francis is meeting US bishops.
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Eagerly watching will be a nation that can not get enough of Francis, a humble man rejuvenating American Catholicism while giving heartburn to its conservatives.
