Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us. Please exit the lawn via the southeast gates. A perfect fall day. First day of fall to greet the pope, arrives at the white house. Were going to show you shortly all of the ceremony that just happened at the south lawn. President obamas comments, pope francis comments in english. Wed love to hear comments from you as well. Day number two of the popes sixday visit to the United States gets under way. Heres how you can join the conversation. You can call us at 2027488920. Thats the line for democrats. For republicans, 2027488921. All others, 2027488922. Nd on twitter the hashtag is popeindc. A number members of congress at the ceremony today as well. Well show you some of those tweets if we get a chance here. Again, were hoping to show you briefly the ceremony this morning. Part of our coverage throughout the day of the popes visit in washington. He will shortly be heading out of the white house but ahead of that the president and the pope
Behaved than usual. Reporter the pope is celebrating a mass canonization the newest st. , a spanish priest that founded California Missions in 18th century and some American Indians not found of this decision. We are hoping that there is a peaceful resolution to move forward with this. There is the historical trauma, no doubt about that. There are ancestors of those people that are not celebrating with us. They are recent full that we are doing this. Reporter after the mass, the pope plans to meet with indian leaders, another sign of a different kind of pope trying to make peace with all. Reporter just a few minutes ago, a moving part of this mass where several different of the churchgoers here brought up the gifts to the altar. One of the people participating in that a native american, moving considering the controversy surrounding this st. They have finished the readings here at this mass. They will go into the homily it will be in spanish but we will get an english translation as so
House and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning. Well to a special splet edition of today on this very important wednesday morning. Im matt lauer here at the white house. Savannah is back at studio 1a. I have to tell you its excited to be here. Were on the south lawn. Quiet around here until 6 00 this morning and then we opened up the gates to the public and all those people who have been waiting at the ellipse overnight and they sprinted, a mad dash into this area to try to get to the front of the fencing to get a glimpse of the pope. Hes expected to get here at around 9 00. Hell be welcomed again by the president , along with thousands of invited guests. Thousands more, by the way, just beyond the white house gates hoping to get a glimpse of the honored guest, and we expect him to speak, the pope, that is, briefly in english this morning, but his major speech will come tomorrow. That will happen on capitol hill, savannah. Meantime, matt, as you k
His remarks for the first time will be in english, only brief remarks before the two men meet together in private. They have shared concerns publicly about things like Climate Change and income inequality, but behind the smiles there are some real issues of substance like the topic of religious freedom. There will be midday prayers said at st. Matthews cathedral and the pope will head to the basilica where he will canonize junipero serra, the man who brought christianity to california, the first time a canonization will take place on u. S. Soil. Matt, whats struck me so far this morning is just the energy among the people we met here. We met one man who isnt even catholic who said to me im here because this pope is different. He speaks to all of us, and as the father of Young Children i can tell you never wake a sleeping baby. We met another family who brought their 1monthold. We got up at 4 30 in the morning because we wanted our son to be blessed. Matt. Parents with their children he
Prevent things from happening so you dont have to. They put the fencing up. Do you remember the test, how many miles . It was 39 miles of fencing. 39 miles. Around the city to protect the pope. And so if you can screen people and make sure that nobody is bringing anything in that could in any way possibly harm the pope, then your job is easier once youre here with this pope flanked by these trucks and cars and all of the security personnel. Theyre taking absolutely no chances, no chances. How careful they are. Were on the other side of the security barrier. Were right across from st. Patricks cathedral and we were not allowed to bring anything noo here that could be used as a projectile. We couldnt bring any round fruit, oranges or apples to eat while were waiting on the pope. Anything thats projectile. But they did let us bring our iphones in. You know, i want to bring david ushery, he was in d. C. For the popes arrival there. And his procession. And with the pope mobile. David tell u