Ten years after Pope Francis’s Sept. 22-24, 2015 apostolic visit to Washington, 12 people were interviewed about their memories of that papal visit, and their remembrances are being highlighted in a four-part series this week.
Pope Francis addresses Congress
Making history as the first pontiff to address a joint meeting of Congress, Pope Francis on Sept. 24, 2015 encouraged lawmakers and all Americans to welcome immigrants, have solidarity with the poor and work together to protect the environment.
Pope Francis, a native of Argentina whose family had immigrated there from Italy, described himself as “the son of immigrants,” and he noted that many members of Congress were themselves descended from immigrants, who came to the United States, like millions of others, “to pursue their dream of building a future in freedom.”
The history-making pope said that in his address, he wanted to highlight the richness of the cultural heritage of the United States and the spirit of its people, and he praised the legacy of four noted Americans: President Abraham Lincoln, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and two 20th century Catholics – Dorothy Day, a social activist who was a founder of the Catholic Worker Movement and devoted her life to serving the poor; and Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who promoted world peace and dialogue with and respect for other religions.
The members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate listened in rapt attention as Pope Francis, wearing his traditional white cassock, delivered his address in English in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol.
“A nation can be considered great when it defends liberty as Lincoln did, when it fosters a culture which enables people to ‘dream’ of full rights for all their brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther King sought to do; when it strives for justice and the cause of the oppressed, as Dorothy Day did by her tireless work, the fruit of a faith which becomes dialogue and sows peace in the contemplative style of Thomas Merton,” the pope said.
Among those watching the papal address from the chamber’s balcony was John Carr, the founder of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University. He served for more than 20 years as director of the Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, directing the conference’s public policy and advocacy efforts.
“Being in the Capitol for Pope Francis' address was something I will never forget,” Carr said in an interview. He noted how sitting side-by-side behind the pope were then-Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and then-House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, whom Carr pointed out were once “a Catholic kid from Pennsylvania and a Catholic kid from Ohio.”
“I am old enough to remember when prominent figures like (Rev.) Billy Graham said John Kennedy should not be president because he would take advice from the pope,” Carr said, adding, “Now about 50 years later, here was a pope addressing Congress. They were deeply divided. It seems the only thing Democrats and Republicans could agree on was they needed advice from this pope.”
Carr noted, “I’ve been in the House chamber a lot, (it’s a) very noisy place, not a lot of reverence. It was just hushed. Here was this solitary figure in white… (who) paid tribute to our national values and then lifted up Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton. What an enormous sign of respect for our nation and for our Church.”
A common thread tying together the pope’s remarks to Congress was the need to respect “the dignity of every human person,” from welcoming immigrants to defending life at every stage of development to opposing the death penalty, Carr said.
But after addressing Congress, instead of attending a luncheon, Pope Francis offered a greeting and blessing to tens of thousands of people on the Capitol lawn, and then he headed straight over to Catholic Charities in Washington to meet with the poor and with that agency’s staff and volunteers who serve them.
“It was powerful what he said (to Congress), but it was even more powerful what he did (afterward), which was to choose to spend his time with the hungry and homeless instead of the rich and powerful,” Carr said.
Interviewed just before the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’s visit to Washington, Carr said the pope’s words then still ring true today.
“Ten years later, one of the things that strikes me is what Pope Francis called us to, still needs to be done,” Carr said. “He spoke against division and polarization. He spoke about welcome for immigrants. He spoke about lifting up the poor and caring for people who are suffering around the world, and he spoke about civil rights and human rights, and all those things are at risk right now. So we should go back and listen and read his address and watch his example of spending his time with the poor, and follow his example and heed his words.”
A papal visit to Catholic Charities
After his address to Congress, Pope Francis left the U.S. Capitol for his visit with Catholic Charities clients, staff and volunteers at the agency’s St. Maria’s Meals lunch program outside its main building in downtown Washington.
First the pope went to St. Patrick Church next door to Catholic Charities, where about 250 clients from its different programs were gathered along with some members of that parish. The clients included the poor and homeless, people with disabilities including people suffering from mental illnesses, and immigrants served by the Spanish Catholic Center.
Pope Francis called those in need his “dear friends” and said, “God is present in every one of you.” He noted how the Holy Family once found themselves without shelter and later needed to migrate to another land. The pope encouraged the poor and those who serve them to pray for each other, and he concluded his stop at the church by praying the Our Father with them and asking them to pray for him.
That day, Msgr. John Enzler, who was then the president and CEO of Catholic Charities, noted, “Think about where he (Pope Francis) has been today – the Senate and the Congress. He leaves there where there are powerful people to meet with those who have no voice, the weak, the vulnerable. His visit has given us a huge message of the call we have to take care of the poor.”
After leaving St. Patrick Church, Pope Francis visited the chapel in Catholic Charities’ headquarters, and blessed some religious items and gave them a chalice.
Interviewed recently before the 10th anniversary of the pope’s visit to Washington, Msgr. Enzler, now the mission advocate of Catholic Charities and the chaplain at his alma mater, St. John’s College High School in Washington, said he uses that chalice when he celebrates Masses at Catholic Charities’ chapel.
Reflecting back on Pope Francis’s visit to Catholic Charities, Msgr. Enzler said, “We were blessed, unbelievably blessed, to have the pope who I respect and love so much, come to our place of work, our place of worship, and share the gift of his presence with the homeless, the downtrodden and forgotten.”
Msgr. Enzler remembered how Pope Francis walked down the steps from the Catholic Charities building, and soon he was surrounded by about 300 clients being served lunch that day in the St. Maria’s Meals Program, along with the staff and volunteers serving them.
Describing what unfolded then, Msgr. Enzler said, “They’re hugging him. He’s hugging them… He kissed people on the top of the head, (he had) a huge smile. They’d say, ‘Please pray for me,’ and he would say back, ‘Please pray for me.’… I greeted him, I probably had two words with him. I didn’t care about that.”
Seeing the leader of the Catholic Church, the vicar of Christ, meeting Catholic Charities’ clients, staff and volunteers made him feel like “God has blessed me beyond measure, and I’ll try to share his blessings back,” Msgr. Enzler said. He added, “People now will never forget that moment. Imagine living in a shelter, not having a place to live… and you are invited to meet the pope. You stood closer to him than most of Congress, than most senators and congressmen.”
Pope Francis “met Jesus in the poor that day,” Msgr. Enzler said, adding that the message the pope gave them was, “You’re important. Jesus loves you. Whatever situation you’re in, I embrace who you are and see you with dignity.”
To welcome Pope Francis to Washington, more than 100,000 people took the “Walk with Francis Pledge,” which was organized by the Archdiocese of Washington and Catholic Charities. People taking the pledge promised, in the spirit of Pope Francis, to pray, serve or take action to improve their community. Participants were given a brightly colored “Walk with Francis” rubber bracelet to wear.
Remembering that effort, Msgr. Enzler said, “A lot of people said this is my way of being in solidarity with the pope’s preaching, with his love for those in need. My project, my prayer, my service, all of this is a way of saying, ‘Welcome, Pope Francis!’ And I suspect many people still have those bracelets… It was just a symbolic thing, that people wore it, and felt really like they were part of the experience of welcoming (him). They may not have met him directly… Whether they were there or not, they felt like they were part of the experience.”
Asked how Catholics in Washington can continue that walk 10 years after Pope Francis’s visit, Msgr. Enzler said, “If you have a bracelet, you might put it in a place to remind you, part of our commitment as Catholics, as Christians, is service. It’s also prayer. It’s also remembering those who are most in need. Whether you have a bracelet or not, it’s a reminder that part of our mission is to do what he did, which was to reach out with love and care and concern for all those who are part of our community.”
Msgr. Enzler, who said Pope Francis’s visit to Catholic Charities was one of the highlights of his priesthood, said that looking back on the papal visit to Washington, “I’m hopeful that experience from 10 years ago lives on in the hearts of people.”
A hug from Pope Francis
During his historic visit to Washington 10 years ago in September 2015, Pope Francis gave the first papal address to a joint meeting of Congress, visited with the homeless served by Catholic Charities, presided at the first canonization of a saint on U.S. soil, and was welcomed by President Barack Obama at the White House.
And at eight different points during his whirlwind two-day visit, he was greeted outside the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington by cheering groups of Catholics students, in a rotation so representatives of nearly all of the Archdiocese of Washington’s Catholic schools and parishes would have a chance to see the pope up close. Pope Francis reacted warmly to the youth, stepping forward to shake hands or pose for selfies with some of them.
In one photo taken outside the nunciature on Sept. 23, 2015, Pope Francis could be seen breaking into a huge smile, with his arms outstretched, as he was about to hug Theresa Brogan, who was then a freshman at the Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington, Maryland.
Brogan, who has Down syndrome, is now 26. After graduating from St. John the Evangelist School in Silver Spring at her home parish, she graduated from the Academy of the Holy Cross in 2018 and then graduated in 2022 from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where she earned a certificate in early childhood education. For the past two and one-half years, she has worked at the National Children’s Museum in Washington, D.C.
Asked in a recent interview what she remembers most about meeting Pope Francis 10 years ago, Theresa Brogan said, “I remember that he was very loving and kind to me, and his smile, his presence, my connection with him. It was really an amazing moment that we had.”
Describing what happened in that photo of her with the pope, Theresa said, “He went to the Vatican Embassy, and then I thought, ‘Should I hug him or not?’ I didn’t know what to do.” Then she thought, “I’ve got to do this!”
Theresa said that then, “I went up to him, and I hugged him… He hugged me right back. He gave me a big smile, which was amazing.”
Asked if Pope Francis was a good hugger, Theresa smiled and said, “Yes, of course he was.”
When asked if the pope said anything to her, she said, “He did. He said, ‘I love you,’” and Theresa responded, “I love you too!”
In addition to working at the National Children’s Museum, Theresa Brogan serves on the Board of Directors for St. Joseph’s House in Hyattsville, a family daycare serving school-aged youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She also serves as an ambassador for the Catholic Coalition for Special Education.
Pope Francis died at the age of 88 on Easter Monday, April 21, 2015. When asked what she learned from him during his visit to Washington, and what Catholics can learn about their faith and how to live from his example, Theresa Brogan said, “I think me and the Catholics of Washington, we have to have trust in each other, be kind to each other.” Reflecting on the pope’s death this spring and her encounter with him 10 years ago, she said, “When he died, he was in peace. It was really an amazing moment (I had) with him.”
Asked about what her Catholic faith means to her today, Theresa Brogan said, “It means to me today I keep praying to Jesus, and praying to my friend, Pope Francis. It’s beautiful.”
Related stories:
10 years later: Excerpts from Pope Francis's talks during his 2015 visit to Washington
https://www.cathstan.org/voice...
Looking back 10 years after Pope Francis's visit to Washington: Part one, the pope arrives to a joyful welcome and visits cathedral
https://www.cathstan.org/local...
Looking back 10 years after Pope Francis's visit to Washington: Part two, the pope celebrates an historic canonization Mass at National Shrine
https://www.cathstan.org/local...
Looking back 10 years after Pope Francis's visit to Washington: Part three, the pope visits the Little Sisters of the Poor and Saint John Paul II Seminary
