Pope Francis will spend forty eight hours in Washington throughout a September go to, stopping at each the White House and Congress on his first trip to america as pope, the Vatican introduced Tuesday.
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We’ve known for some time now that the pope will visit Washington D.C. and New York before coming here to Philadelphia the last full week of September.
Pope Francis will arrive at Joint Base Andrews the evening of September 22 and meet with the President the following morning.
His schedule includes Masses at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, Madison Square Garden in New York, and the Cathedral Basilica of Sts.
The next day, Francis is scheduled to meet with inmates and some of their families at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility – fulfilling a goal of his trip to visit with people incarcerated in the USA The prison has about 8,000 inmates. Second, it will mark the culmination of another major diplomatic effort by Francis: trying to convince world leaders at the United Nations and sceptical Republican lawmakers to act on climate change in two high-profile speeches in New York and Washington.
He’ll also preside over a vespers service at the newly spruced-up St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
The Argentine pope will also meet with the Hispanic community and other immigrants on Independence Mall on Saturday afternoon.
It will be conducted in Spanish, “which is everyone’s native language at this point, our second language as Americans”, Rossi said.
The chief Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi, said on Tuesday that the pope had not yet decided whether he would chew the leaves after Bolivia’s culture minister revealed this week that the pope had “specifically requested” that coca leaves be made available during his trip. The Pope hasn’t talked to me about what he plans to do, we shall see.
Dolan said Francis was intrigued by the idea of visiting the city but was nervous about his English speaking ability. He is expected to speak about religious liberty and immigration, officials said.
At St. Patrick Church, the Holy Father will meet with clients of Catholic Charities, and then he will offer a blessing and remarks to those gathered for lunch at the St. Maria Meals Program outside the agency’s headquarters.
“I think this is about more than just making it easier for him to communicate by providing opportunities to speak in Spanish”, said the Rev. Claudio M. Burgaleta, a Cuban-born Jesuit at Fordham University.
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“We want to show that there’s a spontaneous expression of support from people of all different faiths, for the message of the encyclical”.
