After participating in the 2013 Conclave that elected Pope Francis, Cardinal Wuerl later explained the worldwide popularity of the first pope from the Americas, saying that the pontiff not only proclaims the Gospel, but through his simple, loving gestures to those on the margins, like the poor, immigrants, prisoners, people with disabilities and the elderly, he shows people how to “do the Gospel,” how to live it.
During his September 2015 pastoral visit to Washington – the first stop on his first visit to the United States – Pope Francis did just that.
Making history as the first pontiff to address a joint meeting of Congress, Pope Francis encouraged lawmakers to work together for the common good, on behalf of the poor and immigrants, and in defense of human life and the environment. “The challenges facing us today call for a renewal of that spirit of cooperation, which has accomplished so much good throughout the history of the United States,” the pope said.
Then right afterward, the Holy Father visited the poor and homeless served by Catholic Charities, and the volunteers and staff members engaged in that work. He prayed that God would give them strength to keep going on their life’s journey. “May the Lord bless each one of you, and may he also bless Catholic Charities and the faith-filled work they do for the poor and marginalized of your city,” the pope said.
One day earlier, Pope Francis celebrated a Canonization Mass outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for Saint Junípero Serra, the famous 18th century Franciscan missionary to California. The pope said Father Serra’s motto, “Keep moving forward!” – inspired his life and work and should likewise inspire today’s Catholics to be missionary disciples in their everyday lives.
Other highlights of Pope Francis’s stop in Washington included an address to U.S. Catholic bishops at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle, and visits to the Little Sisters of the Poor at their Jeanne Jugan Residence for the elderly, and to young men studying for the priesthood at the archdiocese’s Saint John Paul II Seminary.
In a special way, Catholics of the archdiocese helped welcome Pope Francis to Washington, with young adults and students attending his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, and Catholic schoolchildren greeting the Holy Father during each of his comings and goings at the Apostolic Nunciature. Local Catholics also lined the route of his popemobile parade and joined the crowd at the Holy Father’s White House welcome.
During his pastoral visit to Washington, Pope Francis’s way of proclaiming and doing the Gospel from the halls of Congress to a food line at Catholic Charities touched people’s hearts and captivated the nation. To celebrate the pope’s arrival, more than 100,000 people in the community took the Walk with Francis Pledge to pray, serve or act on behalf of those in need, and inspired by the pope’s example, more and more people took that pledge in the months that followed, ensuring that they would continue moving forward on a journey of faith begun by the pope when he visited Washington.
