WASHINGTON—Wading into bitter disputes, Pope Francis urged a divided Congress and America on Thursday to welcome immigrants, abolish the death penalty, share the nation’s immense wealth, and fight global warming. Lawmakers gave rousing ovations to the leader of the world’s Catholics despite obvious disagreements over some of his pleas.
After he addressed Congress, the first pontiff ever to do so, he underscored his message by traveling directly to a downtown Washington church where he mingled with needy and homeless people, blessed their noontime meal, and walked among them as they were eating.
Soon after, he was off to New York, second stop on his three-city first visit to the United States. He addresses the U.N. on Friday and winds up his visit this weekend in Philadelphia.
At the Capitol, the remarkable sight of the pope speaking in the House chamber seemed to delight lawmakers of all persuasions, though he offered an agenda more to Democrats’ liking. Besides his focus on climate change and immigration, he denounced arms sales and seemed to allude approvingly to the Iran nuclear deal and recent Obama administration actions to open relations with Cuba, done with his urging.
Republicans, too, heard something to like in his references to the sanctity of life and family relations, reminders that even the more open Catholic Church that Francis presides over still condemns abortion and gay marriage.
For all the spectacle, it seemed unlikely that the pope’s visit would break congressional inertia on the issues dear to him, with no action in sight from the GOP majority on global warming or immigration.
But Francis, in his historic speech, seemed determined to remind the United States of its foundations as a country made up of foreigners, addressing the chamber and the American people beyond in personal terms as a son of immigrants to “this great continent.”
“We must resolve now to live as nobly and as justly as possible as we educate new generations not to turn their back on our ‘neighbors’ and everything around us,” he said. “We must not be taken aback by their numbers but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation.”
