conception. standby for us, luke. kelly o donnell, are you there with me? reporter: i am. i am multitasking tweeting and taking pictures as i watch the holy father. it s the new age. there s monsignor ronald jamison hugging pope francis there. we just mentioned monsignor performed my wedding ceremony. good to see him there. he s been at st. matthew s a long time. he greeted the pope when he arrived at st. matthew s and now appears to be saying good-bye to the pope as he heads for some down time this afternoon. kelly, do we know exactly what this down time is going to look like? are we talking about a nap here for pope francis? reporter: well, he s earned one with all of the activity of this day. and it is an intense experience one can imagine being at the center of all of this. to the left of the camera, and i m not going to ask dave to
it encouraging, he said, to the president you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution and inside the briefing when josh earnest asked about the president s reaction and his forceful statement, he said, simply, it wasn t as if he thought no one would be listening. that is pope that navigated tricky political parties when he was a bishop and a card until and he knows what he is doing. again, they ll say that it is church doctrine and on point with the politics of the day and so now we are anticipating what he ll say tomorrow and with what is another historic day, never before has a pope addressed a joint session of congress. you have already had one member of congress say they re not going to go because of what the pope has to say about climate change and most of the rest of congress listening very closely, craig. chris, thank you. there s more on the pope s
francis. they disagree on issues. i m not sure that francis can bridge the political gulf between them. and yet, he does bring people together in admiration for who he is and a lot of what he says. the images that we have seen so far, ej, yesterday, for me at least, so far one of the most striking has been that picture of pope francis being greeted at andrews by the president of the united states, the first lady. their two daughters. his mother-in-law. the vice president. jill biden, as well. i mean, this is a pope who has managed to upstage the leader of the free world for at least two days in washington, d.c. right. no. i have rarely felt a mood like this in washington. i think kasie hunt alluded to this earlier. there really is a buoyant mood out there. i don t think that s just because i m catholic and hope to like pope francis. i think a lot of people out there feeling that. and it really is striking.
and very much who he is. it is also going to be interesting, think, ej, to hear the tone that the pope uses with members of congress. this is not a congress making fighting climate change a top priority. is there a reason to believe that words from the pope are going to spur this legislative body to action? i wish i could say yes, but and i suppose maybe he can chalk up a miracle toward sainthood if he achieved that but i think it would take a mirac miracle i think one of the interesting things of the pope is getting people even those that disagree with him think about certain issues. i was really struck at the white house today to see jim mcgovern, one of the most liberal members of government, near paul ryan, one of the most conservative members. and happy to welcome pope
one makes a fool of themselves, craig. luke russert there for us with a quick preview. on the left side of the screen, that s where pope francis is set to arrive shortly there. he ll have a little down time after a big day. congressman hoyer, you won t have to be restrained tomorrow and won t be trying to touch the pope and take out the selfie stick, i imagine, no? i think we ll behave ourselves. very frankly, i want to hear luke say not make a fool of ourselves, but i frankly feel members won t do that tomorrow. but hopefully they won t do it by shutting down the government and stamping their feet saying, if you don t do it my way, we won t do it anyway. that s what the american public is going to judge. but this is an exciting day. tomorrow will be an exciting day. the historic presence of the pope who is a pope who has reached out far beyond the catholic church to all mankind,