Pope
marks second full day in Washington, DC and NY
(Vatican
Radio) Pope Francis made history on Thursday, when he addressed a meeting
of both houses of the US Congress – the first time a reigning Pontiff has ever
done so. While that event was historic for the mere fact of it, and remarkable for
the content and masterful craftsmanship of the address itself, it was neither the only nor the most
significant event of the day.
Immediately
following his visit to Capitol Hill, Pope Francis went to St. Patrick’s parish soup kitchen, where he blessed
the facility and the guests, and took a moment to recall the greatest work of
mercy ever wrought: when God took on human flesh, and was later born, and
lived, and suffered, and died, and rose.
That,
as far as Pope Francis was concerned, was the real story – the one worth
telling – the one in and through which all our stories make sense and have a
chance to become great and noble.
Then
he travelled to New York, where he was greeted by a teeming multitude of
humanity: they cheered him welcome with genuine enthusiasm, exuberant and
unaffected. In another church – this one a great cathedral – dedicated to
St. Patrick, Pope Francis presided over the Church’s official praise of God in the
evening, and spoke of the twin spirits of joy and diligence, which must
animate the life of every one of Christ’s disciples and especially of every
shepherd of souls in Christ’s fold.
Joy
and diligence: the central themes of the Holy Father’s Vespertine homily were
also the characteristic qualities of his public activity throughout the day –
and the lodestar of his Apostolic visit to the United States, which on
Fridaysees him first at the United Nations for another major address, then at the
September 11th memorial, then at an historic elementary school
that has served immigrant populations in the city for more than a century, and
finally at Mass in the Madison
Square Garden arena.
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