his blessing, and look at the signal to the right there, and alitalia flight to cuba that he flew as well, but when he gets to america, he is going to use american ar looinirlines. he has a journey of firsts for the pontiff and the church and the united states as well. at age 78, this pope has never set foot in the united states. so this is historic in so many ways. it all will change at 4:00 p.m. eastern time when he is due to arrive at joint base andrews, and make his way to the apostolic vatican embassy in northwest washington. at andrews, another first, he is going to be greeted by president obama and mrs. obama and vice president biden and dr. biden, his wife, and that, too, a first
aboard the alitalia and the pope is sitting in business class, folks. regular, and no fancy quarters and no fancy setup, and no fancy office. i think that you can hear the cheering. the roar of the jet engines, i think that we could hear the cheering of those bidding the final farewell to success trip to cuba. there you go, folks, three hours and some odd minutes, that plane will be landing right here in the united states, and that pope will be stepping on american soil for the first time. just, if you are wondering, amongst the viewers, and everyone else across the united states, if you are wondering what the favorability, and the opinion of the man on board that jet is, it is high. these are numbers any politician would beg for. would set their whole life and
and congressmen, and the members of the cabinet, and it is that meeting that is only the president and the pope. one-on-o one-on-one. in the oval office, and there is going to be two translators present in case they are needed, but we are told by two senior officials that the pope including the speech to congress, he is expected to speak english, and it is not the strong point, but we have been told that he has been practicing for months, and that meeting between the president and the pope is expected to last between 45 minutes, and an hour, ashley. i heard him say some choice english phrases to scott pelly of cbs news the other day on a rope line, and it is right, he has been working at the english. michelle kosinski, thank you, and there is so much more that i will tell you throughout the program, and thank you, deb feyerick with regard to the security and the logistic, and welcoming in the viewers around the world as we are watching the live picture of the alitalia
assignments, we try to look at all of the coverage on the cnn platforms to make sure that we have it all covered on all front, and social media and the web and the tv and we try to do it all, and ambitious, but we try to get it done. i am happy to see you on board safely, and i know that at some point you have to turn the phone off, but when i flew on george bush s plane in 2000 for the election, nobody had to turn the phones off and we didn t have to buckle up, and it was unusual circumstance, but obviously, the cockpit windows are open and the flags are flying and a terrific flight to watch this live. again, if you are joining us, the pope is aboard the alitalia flight as it takes off from his very successful visit from santiago, cuba, and father beck, you have to tell us about the secret of the business class seats and the coach seats aboard the flights that he takes.
a higher threat than this visit which is remarkable when you think of who has visited. isis said that they would like to raise the isis flag over the vatican, and so can you manimag isis on u.s. territory taking out the head of catholicism, christiani christianity? it would be a big gain for them in one fell swoop, and that is a big danger, there and that is why the security detail is unprecede unprecedented, and if they were to strike in a lone wolf crazy man, that is the fear people have. and let me interrupt you, and we are watching the runway alongside the viewers here, and again, i want to welcome the viewers in the united states and around the world with the alitalia plane with the pope aboard ready to take off in a moment, and our correspondent rosa flores is aboard the plane. rosa, can you speak to me? hi, yes. yes, i can.