People gather for the pope
Traci Badalucco/MNS
WASHINGTON – Amid crowded streets, packed subway cars with teenage riders chanting “Pope Francis,” and bars offering live coverage on big screen TVs usually reserved for football games, it was clear Wednesday the nation’s capital was eager for a historic papal visit.
People of all ages swarmed around the White House to catch a glimpse of the pope and later crowded outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in downtown Washington where he met with American bishops.
Pope Francis, one of the most prominent religious leaders in the world, seemed to captivate the younger generation of Americans during his time in Washington.
“He’s very personable, he’s always going up to people and greeting people,” said Marina Ferreri, a 20-year-old junior at the College of St. Rose in Albany, N.Y.. “The Catholic Church has always been its own entity.” The pope, she said, has made the church more inclusive to “the rest of the world.”
President Barack Obama joined the pope on the White House Lawn Wednesday morning with some 15,000 visitors straining to hear every word from the two leaders. The pope held his head down with his eyes closed almost as in prayer. Later, members of the St. Augustine Catholic Church of Washington, sang “Total Praise.”
The president called the pope’s visit one of “many firsts,” including Francis’s use of a Twitter account. That’s one of the reasons that Pope Francis has been successful in reaching youth within the Catholic community and beyond.
“Growing up, Pope John Paul II seemed more untouchable, this pope seems more accessible,” said Dianna Stanton, 36, who traveled with her husband from Albany, to see a pontiff’s first-ever address to Congress on Thursday. “He’s refreshing, new, outside the box!”
The six-day U.S. tour is the first for Francis, the fourth pope to visit the United States. He arrived Tuesday evening after his visit to Cuba.
Between shaking hands with regular folks and speaking Thursday to the United States Congress, the pope was expected to continue his not-too-big-or-too-small approach to the papacy.
“His reason for being here is just to invite people to think about their lives and if they are thinking with God,” said the Rev. Kenneth Doyle of Albany. “They see him universally as a spiritual and moral leader.”
At the White House, Pope Francis, who’s been supporting efforts for climate change initiatives, said he was “encouraged” by the president’s stance on air pollution.
Ferreri, a practicing Catholic, said if the pope chooses to speak about political issues like global warming in front of a joint session of Congress, he will not overstep a pontiff’s role. “I see him not only as a religious figure, but also as an authority figure, and so I think he is entitled to express those opinions.”
While many Catholics remain rooted in the church’s traditions, some think the pope’s progressive views are essential in today’s evolving society.
“We live in a world where gay marriage does exist and climate change is a real thing,” Ferreri said in a phone interview.
Dianna Stanton’s husband, Royal Stanton, 37, surprised his wife with two tickets for the papal visit to the Capitol that he won in a raffle on New York Sen. Charles’ Schumer’s website.
“Maybe it’s a sales pitch, [as in] we want you to belong to the church,” Royal Stanton said of the pope’s inclusive rhetoric. Later adding, “We’re all the same people, we all have the same blood running through us.”
And while the Stantons’ appreciate the pope’s modern touch, they are also grounded in
America’s capitalist “work hard and get ahead” attitude.
“Everyone has their own views,” said Royal Stanton. “It is what it is.”
Pope Francis concluded the evening with the canonization of a new saint, Junipero Serra, and his first mass in the U.S. outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Published in conjunction with 
