i thought it was interesting. he went right in and outlined all of the points that we ve been talking about and that we expected him to make right away in this welcome speech, as it were, you know. immediately bring up immigration. he went into everything. he went into immigration and possibly also in the order in which he thinks it might be important. immigration, marriage. he talked about supporting the institution of marriage, religious liberty, climate and then the economy. so really comprehensive. i mean, just got it all in there in that kind of encouraging sort of way. but those are all the top issues. i mean, i think we ll be hearing more about all of that. that was kind of the outline. and john king and maria over there talking about the political context of all of this. the president was almost more political than the pope. but let s not forget that the fastest growing part of the catholic church in the united states is amongst the hispanic and latino community. john
social issues that divide so many of the faithful in the catholic church, for instance, abortion. he said for the first time and this year priests will be able to hear a woman s confession and to be able to absolve a woman. he s talked about speeding up annulments and taking the cumbersome bureaucracy and high cost of annulments. he also famously declared who am i to judge? about homosexuals. there is a shift. he s bringing catholicism back to the wide umbrella it was thought to be. we are all pilgrims on the way towards god and we need to find our way under that umbrella and not draw in the walls. e it does seem that he s trying to the message he s giving to priests, to members of the church is to be more merciful and flexible. it s not necessarily as we said a change of doctrine but a
because they know what s what francis wants. on this point about blowback, can i be clear? i covered john paul ii and benedict xvi. it came from somewhat different quarters than the resistance francis is getting, but i don t think the overall level of resistance is any greater. resistance to popes goes all the way back to st. peter. and i don t see any particular evidence that francis is being hobbled by it. jim sciutto, i m told we re about to get images of the meeting between president obama and the pope in the oval office. i m curious to hear your thoughts on what you heard this morning. i mean, it was an extraordinary event to see a welcome of this size at this level for the pope, again, the first time he s been to the united states. no question. this is the pope who knows the power of his voice. he s an adept politician and careful with his words. with each of those issues he touched on today, talking about being the son of immigrants, on religious freedom, very much in the el
conversation about immigration continues here at catholic university. we heard what carol just mentioning some of those remarks by the pope at the white house. and just hear this, the pope saying that he is an immigrant because he is, his family moving from italy all the way to argentina. his grandmother who has a beautiful name, by the way, her name is rosa, traveled there and established a new life. and his family lost everything during the depression. so when this pope speaks about immigration, the difficulties of the immigrants, he knows exactly what he s talking about. he s not reading about something. that is his life. now, as to what we re going to see happen here at the basilica, later today, there s going to be a cannonization ceremony for
holy father s right at the moment is the white house briefing room just behind that wall is where the press secretary briefs reporters. then they ll make a left when they get to the end. and it s a few short steps into the oval office. the president is looking directly now, the holy father looking directly now at a door into the west wing. this is the working part of the white house where the president s staff is. the president s office, of course, the oval offi, the vice president has an office steps from that. the chief of staff. and we don t need to get into this at the moment, but when you come into an administration, that s part of the big fight, who gets the prime real estate in the white house. but by winning the election, the president gets the most prime real estate of all. it is quite spectacular to be inside the oval office. and this is the holy father s first visit to the united states. it is, of course, also his first walk down this sacred place. to the background music