thoughts could happen. i do expect he is going to thank you about the importance of defending the traditional christian concept of the family, which, of course, means a union between a man and a him who. let s not forget that the real reason that he s coming to america in the first place is to attend a world meeting of families in philadelphia, where this subject is certainly going to come up. i don t think you are going to hear from him a specific defunsiation of a recent u.s. supreme court decision in favor of gay marriage. i do think you will hear him talk about the needs to defend the traditional concept of the family. in terms of sex abuse victims, i do expect pope frances to talk about the damage that the clerical sexual abuse scandals have done to the catholic church in the united states. i would think an especially logical time for that to come up is when he gathers the people in
ceremony. what can you tell us about this? reporter: again, remember, this is a ceremony where there are going to be about 15,000 people on the lawn of the white house, so yes, there s a broad spectrum of religious leaders who have been invited, and a few people might be problematic for certain parts of the catholic church in the united states and even in rome, and that s understandable. pope francis has done many things that make people uncomfortable in different parts of the church, again, president obama has a long history of engaging faith leaders from across political and ideological spectrums so this is in keeping with that. the wall street journal reporting according to a senior vatican official, they worry that any photos of the pope with these guests could be interpreted as an endorsement of their activities, and it s a strongly-worded off the record quote apparently an anonymous
keep all of the diocese around the world. this is an international issue, on the same page. so, what began with pope benedict and the catholic church in the united states, establishing the norm that is become a standard or all the diocese and all the cardinals are on board with that. the question is enforcing it. that s why a lot of victim s groups talk about accountability. bishop s accountability even for the people not directly held responsible but may have not handled the cases properly. that is what they are working on now, trying to get accountability for the bishops. the pope is in favor of that. thank you. reaction to the meeting in the u.s. is mixed. it s hopeful it will be a step toward reform or is it a hurtful stunt? we have that from chicago. no one i spoke to questions whether hearing from victims is important. critics here in chicago, far
church in the u.s. in other countries shift its emphasis away in politics from a very narrow focus to this much broader focus on economic justice. i think what s going to be important is the message that comes out of his meeting with president obama. what is the pope going to say? what is the vatican going to put out about that meeting? is that going to reduce some of the tension between the white house and the catholic church in the united states? those are among the things i m going to be looking for. to the point of that broader conversation, kate, and because you work with a lot of young people in the church, what are you looking for in that meeting between the president and the pope? how do you see already he is or is not affecting the conversation? well, i think we re all excited to see these two men meet, just as we were excited when pope benedict and president obama met. i think we are looking forward to them having a deep
it s been a long time. all the way back to pope john xxiii when i was a kid. i think one of the things he s made cool is simplicity. the name francis, he s gotten rid of a lot of the regalacy. there were jokes that the lacy tunics are not on sale on steep discounts on ebay, because he has set a simple tone. i think that s important, but i also think the shift in priorities are important. he has pulled the church back from culture war issues. head said for the church to was wrong, and he has clearly shifted the focus of the papacy, and i think the attention of a lot of catholics to issues of social and economic justice, particularly care for the needy. let me just interrupt you, because i thought it was notable that today he began his second year the way he started his