“It was wonderful. It was great to see him and when he looked at us, it was really nice”, said Sister Maria Gonzalez, a Catholic nun.
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The pope said he knows of pain the sexual abuse crisis caused, adding he supports USA bishops’ pledge to bring healing to victims as to make sure “such crimes will never be repeated”.
CNN reports that some members of the crowds in the area of the National Mall-where the pope is set to proceed momentarily in his signature popemobile-have been doing “the wave”.
Francis will speak to a joint meeting of Congress Thursday morning, and will leave for New York City later that day. “She has a lot of complicated medical issues”.
They were hoping Pope Francis would bless her. “We could learn from Pope Francis because he’s all about helping out the poor and we could all do that in our own way”, said Casey Flaherty, a student. The marching bands started to play, and the president came out, and then Pope Francis came out in a tiny Fiat.
The pope spoke in careful English to tens of thousands of people stretching to the Washington Monument, as the faithful listened to the pontiff on Jumbotron.
There, he will canonize 18th century Spanish missionary Friar Junipero Serra over the objections of critics who say that Serra suppressed Native American cultures in what is now California.
Pope Francis is headed to the white house.
But Francis, who some right-wing commentators have denounced as a Marxist, says his positions have not strayed from long-held Roman Catholic teachings.
The message is expected to be welcomed by many U.S. bishops and conservatives who have objected to the Obama administration’s healthcare mandate and the recent Supreme Court legalisation of same-sex marriage. Many religious organizations assert that this accommodation does not go far enough, because they remain complicit in allowing their employers to use forbidden contraception. Marine Alex Happ carried the Vatican flag at the Pope’s welcome ceremony in D.C. He tweeted pictures.
Around the Ellipse, people were lined in some places 10 deep behind barricades after waiting for hours and passing through security checkpoints that opened at 4 a.m. But on a sunny day with temperatures in the mid-70s, spirits remained high.
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Every year St. Peter’s Catholic School takes a group of 6th graders to Washington DC.
