Pope’s Full Remarks at the White House
After arriving at the White House on Wednesday, Pope Francis spoke about topics including immigration and the environment.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on Publish Date September 23, 2015.
Photo by Stephen Crowley/The New York Times.
Watch in Times Video »
WASHINGTON — Welcomed with a fanfare of trumpets and a chorus of amens, Pope Francis introduced himself to the United States on Wednesday with a bracing message on climate change, immigration and poverty that ranged from the pastoral to the political.
On
a day that blended the splendor of an ancient church with the frenzy of
a modern rock star tour, Francis waded quietly but forcefully into some
of the most polarizing issues of American civic life. Along the way, he
underscored just how much he has upended the agenda of the Roman Catholic Church and reordered its priorities.
Perhaps no one was more pleased than President Obama,
who greeted him with an elaborate arrival ceremony at the White House,
where the pope explicitly embraced the administration’s efforts to
combat climate change.
At a later speech to American bishops, Francis, the first pope from
Latin America, pressed for openness to immigrants, marking a signal day
for Hispanics in the United States.
While
the last two popes focused on traditional moral issues like abortion
and homosexuality, Francis left those to the side in Mr. Obama’s
presence. With the bishops, he spoke about the “innocent victim of
abortion” but mentioned the issue as only one of a long list of
concerns, including children who die of hunger or in bombings,
immigrants who “drown in the search for a better tomorrow” and an
environment “devastated by man’s predatory relationship with nature.”
Pope Francis in Washington
CreditStephen Crowley/The New York Times
“Humanity
has the ability to work together in building our common home,” the pope
told a crowd of thousands on the South Lawn of the White House in his
first major speech in English. “As Christians inspired by this
certainty, we wish to commit ourselves to the conscious and responsible
care of our common home.”
Still,
in a low-key but evident break with Mr. Obama, Francis at the end of
the day made a previously unannounced stop to see the nuns at the Little
Sisters of the Poor to underscore his support for religious freedom, a Vatican
spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said. The Little Sisters
religious order sued the federal government over the birth control
mandate in Mr. Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
Wearing
his white cassock and skullcap, Francis was greeted everywhere he went
by joyful crowds. Catholics and non-Catholics alike juggled their
cellphones and small flags of the Holy See as they craned for a glimpse
of the 266th pope — only the fourth to visit the United States and third
to visit Washington.
The
spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics led a short parade around the
Ellipse in his open-air popemobile, waving and making the sign of the
cross as Vatican officials brought him babies to kiss. He later
celebrated Mass for more than 20,000 people and presided over the first
canonization in the United States.
In
his first visit to the United States, Francis, 78, seemed eager to pass
over his previous criticisms of a materialistic, capitalist culture and
instead reach out to the world’s most powerful nation. He praised the
country’s devotion to freedom of liberty and religion even as he
cautioned that its vast resources demanded a deep sense of moral
responsibility. “God bless America,” he said at the White House.
Francis in America
News and features on Pope Francis’ visit to Washington, New York and Philadelphia in September, his first visit ever.
The
pope arrived at the White House in a modest Fiat to find a crowd of
11,000 people, including Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Secretary
of State John Kerry and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the
Democratic minority leader, all Catholics, as well as about half of the
members of Congress. The White House rolled out its best color guards,
including a fife-and-drum corps, but opted against the 21-gun salute
that is traditional for such ceremonies.
Mr.
Obama thanked the pope for his help in restoring American diplomatic
relations with Cuba and hailed him for speaking out for the world’s most
impoverished. “You shake our conscience from slumber,” he said. “You
call on us to rejoice in good news and give us confidence that we can
come together, in humility and service, and pursue a world that is more
loving, more just and more free.”
In
his own remarks, the pope noted the country’s origins at a time when
critics of illegal immigration were pushing to build a wall at the
southern border. “As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a
guest in this country, which was largely built by such families,”
Francis said.
He
devoted more of his address to climate change than any other topic.
“Mr. President,” Francis said, “I find it encouraging that you are
proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution.” He added that there
was still time to heal the planet for its children. “To use a telling
phrase of the Rev. Martin Luther King, we can say that we have defaulted
on a promissory note, and now is the time to honor it,” he said.
The
ceremony brought together two men with starkly disparate backgrounds
and yet commonalities that have united them now, a community organizer
from Chicago and a priest from Argentina, both presenting themselves as
champions of the powerless. While they first met last year at the
Vatican, their appearance on Wednesday carried a visual and possibly a
political power that solidified the impression of a secular-theological
alliance.
Pope Leads Prayer Service in Washington
Pope Francis attended a prayer
service with American bishops at the Cathedral of St. Matthew’s the
Apostle in Washington on Wednesday.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on Publish Date September 23, 2015.
Photo by Pool photo by Mark Wilson.
Watch in Times Video »
Republicans,
who have said they disagree with the pope on climate change and
capitalism, nonetheless largely kept such thoughts to themselves and
instead focused instead on the majesty of the day. Former Gov. Jeb Bush
of Florida, a Republican presidential candidate who converted to
Catholicism, attended the afternoon Mass with the pope and posted a
picture on Twitter.
After
meeting alone with the president and an interpreter in the Oval Office,
the pope went to the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, where the
crowd swelled so deep that for many the only sign of the pope’s arrival
was a cheer echoing through nearby streets. A crowd of more than 50
people inside a restaurant pressed against windows facing the cathedral
and stood eagerly on chairs to get a better view.
As
the pope entered the cathedral, the rector, Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson,
threw his arms open wide. As he walked down the church’s center aisle
between rows of bishops in pink zucchettos, some of them held up phones
and cameras to take pictures.
Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Ore., posted on Twitter from his seat in the pews: “Pope Francis has arrived!”
Addressing
nearly 300 bishops, whom he referred to as his brothers, the pope was
warm and encouraging, but he also spoke clearly and with simple language
that was unmistakable in its emphasis. He praised the bishops for their
work on behalf of immigrants, and for the first time praised their
“courage” in handling the church’s sexual abuse scandals.
Scenes From the Canonization Mass
Pope Francis at the canonization ceremony for the Rev. Junípero Serra in Washington.
By REUTERS on Publish Date September 23, 2015.
Photo by Josh Haner/The New York Times.
Watch in Times Video »
“I
am also conscious of the courage with which you have faced difficult
moments in the recent history of the church in this country without fear
of self-criticism and at the cost of mortification and great
sacrifice,” the pope told the bishops.
Those
remarks brought applause from the bishops but later drew indignation
from survivors of sexual abuse and their advocates. Dennis Coday, the
editor of The National Catholic Reporter, an independent outlet that
helped reveal sexual abuse by priests, said the pope’s comments would
prompt victims to conclude, “He just doesn’t get it.”
Speaking
to bishops who have not always agreed with his spiritual emphasis, the
pope said that he had “not come to judge you or to lecture you.” But he
said the “style of our mission” should make parishioners feel that the
message was meant for them. “Be pastors close to people, pastors who are
neighbors and servants,” he instructed.
Francis
also pressed his case for particular attention to immigrants and
refugees as a primary responsibility of the church. Speaking of the
recent surge of migration from Latin America, he acknowledged that
parishes may be “challenged by their diversity.”
“But
know that they also possess resources meant to be shared — so do not be
afraid to welcome them,” he said. “I am certain that, as so often in
the past, these people will enrich America and its church.”
Francis in America: Popemobiles Through Time
Latinos
who flocked to see the pontiff said they were not surprised that he
would highlight an issue of critical importance to a community with
increasing influence in American politics — and an expanding target for
political backlash.
“He understands Americans — he is one,” Oscar Lefranc, 55, said. “He’s lived it. He’s experienced it.”
Later
in the afternoon, the pope went to the campus of Catholic University of
America to celebrate his first Mass in the United States and to
canonize Junípero Serra, a Franciscan who founded missions across
California in the 1700s.
The
pope greeted the enthusiastic crowd before entering the Basilica of the
National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the nation’s largest
Roman Catholic church.
Before
the homily, the pope declared Father Serra to be a saint. “Having given
mature deliberation and having begged the help of divine grace, and the
opinion of many of our brothers, blessed Junípero Serra we discern and
define to be a saint,” the pope said, speaking in Spanish.
Olga
Herrera, 30, and eight other members of a young-adults group at St.
Camillus Catholic Church of Silver Spring, Md., all of them from
Guatemala, cheered when Francis accepted the proclamation made on behalf
of Father Serra’s sainthood.
Correction: September 23, 2015
An earlier version of this article misstated the church group that Olga Herrera was with when Pope Francis accepted the proclamation made on behalf of Junípero Serra’s sainthood. It was the group with St. Camillus Catholic Church of Silver Spring, Md., not the group with St. Catherine Laboure Church in Wheaton, Md.
An earlier version of this article misstated the church group that Olga Herrera was with when Pope Francis accepted the proclamation made on behalf of Junípero Serra’s sainthood. It was the group with St. Camillus Catholic Church of Silver Spring, Md., not the group with St. Catherine Laboure Church in Wheaton, Md.
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