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.
Flowers for the pope
When Pope Francis stepped out of his plane at Joint Base Andrews on Sept. 22, 2015 to begin his pastoral visit to Washington on the first stop of his first visit to the United States, he was greeted by four Catholic schoolchildren. Jocelyn Aquino, then a seventh grader at Sacred Heart School in Washington, was going to hand a dozen roses to the pontiff, but she handed them to Karlena Somerville, a 6-year-old kindergarten student at St. Philip the Apostle School in Camp Springs, who then had the honor of handing the flowers to Pope Francis.
Ten years later, Karlena Somerville – who has Down syndrome – was interviewed at her family’s home and reflected on her experience of meeting the pope.
“I gave him the flowers when I was a kid,” said Karlena, who is now 16 years old and is a sophomore at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia. She added, “He gave me a blessing, and I said, ‘Thank you.’”
Karlena’s mother, Karen Somerville, joined her at the airfield’s tarmac. While awaiting the pope’s arrival, Karlena walked up to First Lady Michelle Obama, who introduced the child to her husband, President Barack Obama. Karlena instinctively started dancing, and the president and first lady joined in for an impromptu dance with her.
“I was actually not nervous at all,” Karlena said of her encounter with the pope and the president.
Meanwhile while the pope’s plane was landing, Karlena’s father, Deacon Keith Somerville, was at home watching it on TV.
“It was unforgettable, totally unforgettable. Actually I was here, watching TV, not knowing what was going on, not knowing that she would actually be on the side where the pope was coming down, and there she is,” Deacon Somerville said, remembering that moment. “I was so excited. It was a proud moment. I felt this family was blessed. We were very, very blessed to have Karlena to be one of the young ones to greet the pope in the United States when he first came in. It was a very, very proud moment as her dad.”
Karlena’s experience was one of many blessings in her family over the years. Her mother, Dr. Karen Somerville, works for the American Nurses Association, and her father, Deacon Keith Somerville, serves at Mount Calvary Parish in Forestville. Her brother, Keith Somerville Jr., is a senior at Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda. Her grandfather, the late Deacon John Somerville, made history of his own as one of three brothers who served as Catholic deacons in the Archdiocese of Washington, joining his brothers, the late Deacon James Somerville and the late Deacon Joseph Somerville.
For her part, Karlena graduated from St. Bartholomew School in Bethesda and was a freshman and active in the theater program this past year at the Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington before attending Bishop O’Connell High School.
Then and now, Karlena Somerville seems to have taken her experience of meeting Pope Francis in stride. When asked what happened to her after her encounter with the pope, she smiled and said, “Well, my friends at my school, they said, ‘I want to get your autograph!’”
The view from the popemobile
While then serving as the archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl had the honor of hosting Pope Francis during the papal visit to the nation’s capital. And the cardinal had a special vantage point as the pope traveled in Washington, sitting behind him in the popemobile.
“It was a moment of joy, sheer joy, because when you looked out and you saw all of these people – students, middle aged people, elderly people, everybody there, and there was joy written all over their face, that the vicar of Christ had come to see them,” Cardinal Wuerl, now an archbishop emeritus of Washington, said in an interview, adding, “And the pope mirrored that joy. He was so pleased to be there with all of us Catholics from this part of the world.”
Reflecting on how he witnessed Pope Francis riding in the popemobile and the reaction of the excited crowds of people lining the streets of Washington, Cardinal Wuerl said, “I think the one thing that I carried away from that… was the joy, the joy he brought, and the joy that was reflected in everyone.”
The retired archbishop – who led the Archdiocese of Washington from 2006 to 2018 – added, “He brought joy with him. And it seemed like everywhere he went, he was able to bring forth joy from people. I think they recognized that this was a truly spiritual man, this is a man of God, and they responded with not just a certain sense of awe, but with the joy that he was in their midst and was with us.”
After being elected as the new pontiff in 2013, Pope Francis wrote an apostolic exhortation titled Evangelii Gaudium, Latin for “The Joy of the Gospel.”
“But even more than just bringing us the joy of being a disciple of Christ, he challenged us to live it,” Cardinal Wuerl said. “He challenged us to take that joy of being a follower of Jesus and share it with others, and let others know what it’s like to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.”
Cardinal Wuerl noted how Pope Francis also rode around Washington in a small black Fiat. “He insisted that he was not going to ride in one of those bulletproof limousines. He said, ‘I’ve come to be with the people.’ And so, Fiat then gave him these two little Fiats, and that way he could sit in there, roll the window down and wave to people. And he was happy as could be. And people could actually see him.”
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88. Asked what he hopes that pope’s life and legacy will mean to the world’s Catholics, and to Catholics in Washington who had such a personal experience with him, Cardinal Wuerl said, “Don’t you think that the great gift of Francis was the simplicity, reminding us of the simplicity of the Gospel? It is not something so complex, so multi-layered, that we don’t understand what the message is. ‘Love one another,’ Jesus said, ‘as I have loved you, care for one another.’ And I think that was what Francis was able to communicate.”
An embrace from the pope
In his 57 years as a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson has served for 41 years at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, including as the rector there for the past 30 years. During that time, he has welcomed many people to the Catholic cathedral in the nation’s capital.
Ten years ago, he welcomed Pope Francis to St. Matthew’s Cathedral on Sept. 23, 2015.
“That was a very special day for me,” he said in an interview.
Msgr. Jameson remembered that he had been told by the Secret Service to wait for the pope at the cathedral’s front door.
“So, I was standing there for quite a while and just kind of looking out, seeing no one. And just reflecting, I'm about to meet the Holy Father. I’m about to meet the representative of Jesus,” Msgr. Jameson said, adding that thought calmed him down.
“And so I was ready when the little Fiat pulled in front of the cathedral,” he said, remembering how when the pope got out of the car, he seemed to look up with concern at the steps he would have to climb.
“And so when I saw that expression, I just went out a little bit and opened my arms. And he looked up, and up the steps he came,” Msgr. Jameson said. “…We kind of reached out to each other… we kind of grabbed each other by the top of our arms or shoulders and just were looking at each other.”
The cathedral’s rector remembered how the pope connected to him, by looking to him, eye-to-eye. Then moments later they walked down the cathedral’s aisle together, for the midday prayer with the nation’s Catholic bishops. “They were calling out (to him), they were clapping their hands. And Francis was just going there, greeting them and going down the aisle. It was magnificent,” he said.
During that meeting with the bishops, Pope Francis described himself as “a pastor from the South,” and he encouraged them to be pastors and shepherds, to reach out to those in need and to welcome immigrants.
“It was very special, because it kind of resonated to a lot of what I had been saying and how I talk about being a pastor and what that means. And, when he spoke that to the bishops, he was saying really to all of us that we were to be neighbors. We were to be servants,” Msgr. Jameson said.
The cathedral’s rector noted how Pope Francis in his papacy emphasized “todos, todos, todos,” the Spanish word for “everyone.” The pope said those words during the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, when he said, “That is the Church, the mother of all. There is room for all.”
“That's who we reach out to,” Msgr. Jameson said. “Everyone is welcome. Everyone is made in the image and likeness of God. Everyone. And recognizing (their) human dignity. And even now, 10 years later, that is so important to us, and in the world and this country, recognizing that everyone really is made in the image of God. And we are truly (called) to reach out to them.”
The priest said the cathedral in its ministry to the city’s homeless not only offers them food, but treats them as neighbors made in God’s image.
Msgr. Jameson said that when it came time for Pope Francis to leave St. Matthew’s Cathedral, suddenly everyone else was heading to their cars to get to the next papal event, and he was there alone with the Holy Father, with the Vatican’s photographer nearby.
As Pope Francis said goodbye to the priest, they gave each other a simple embrace, and the pope looked at him and said, “Thank you, God bless you.”
“That moment just outshined everything. As he looked into your eyes, it wasn’t this formal handshake or ‘see you,’ it was those eyes of his (that) just really spoke… They certainly spoke to me,” Msgr. Jameson said, adding, “I will never, never be able to forget that.”
Reflecting on the pope’s legacy, Msgr. Jameson said, “Everyone, no matter who you are, you are welcome, says Pope Francis. The Lord welcomes you. Jesus welcomes you. And I think as he went around what he was saying (was) that we are all to be that image of Jesus to others, to those who are in need… And I think that’s what we have to be even more conscious of today, as being that Jesus to others.”
The priest who was greeted warmly and given a warm farewell by the pope during his visit to St. Matthew’s Cathedral spoke about how Pope Francis showed how to “have that eye contact, have that smile, to be really that compassionate Jesus, that loving Jesus, that joyful Jesus. And that is our task as well, to carry those qualities and then to give them, (to) todos, todos, todos” – everyone, everyone, everyone.
