Please find below the full text of President Obama's speech:
Good morning!
What a beautiful day the Lord has made! Holy Father, on behalf
of Michelle and myself, welcome to the White House. Our backyard is not
typically this crowded – but the size and spirit of today’s gathering is just a
small reflection of the deep devotion of some 70 million American Catholics…and
the way your message of love and hope has inspired so many people, across our
nation and around the world. On behalf of the American people, it is my great
honor and privilege to welcome you to the United States of America.
Today, we mark many firsts. Your Holiness, you have been
celebrated as the first Pope from the Americas. This is your first visit to the
United States. And you are also the first pontiff to share an Encyclical
through a Twitter account.
Holy Father, your visit not only allows me, in some small way,
to reciprocate the extraordinary hospitality you extended to me at the Vatican
last year. It also reveals how much all Americans, from every background and of
every faith, value the role that the Catholic Church plays in strengthening
America. From my time working in impoverished neighborhoods with the Catholic
Church in Chicago, to my travels as President, I’ve seen firsthand how, every
day, Catholic communities, priests, nuns, and laity feed the hungry, heal the
sick, shelter the homeless, educate our children, and fortify the faith that
sustains so many.
What is true in America is true around the world. From the busy
streets of Buenos Aires to remote villages in Kenya, Catholic organizations
serve the poor, minister to prisoners, build schools and homes, and operate
orphanages and hospitals. And just as the Church has stood with those
struggling to break the chains of poverty, it has given voice and hope to those
seeking to break the chains of violence and oppression.
And yet, I believe the excitement around your visit must be
attributed not only to your role as pope, but to your unique qualities as a
person. In your humility, your embrace of simplicity, the gentleness of your
words and the generosity of your spirit, we see a living example of Jesus’
teachings, a leader whose moral authority comes not just through words but also
through deeds.
You call on all of us, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, to put
the “least of these” at the center of our concern. You remind us that in the
eyes of God our measure as individuals, and as societies, is not determined by
wealth or power or station or celebrity, but by how well we hew to Scripture’s
call to lift up the poor and the marginalized, to stand up for justice and
against inequality, and to ensure that every human being is able to live in
dignity – because we are all made in the image of God.
You remind us that “the Lord’s most powerful message” is mercy.
That means welcoming the stranger with empathy and a truly open heart – from
the refugee who flees war torn lands, to the immigrant who leaves home in
search of a better life. It means showing compassion and love for the
marginalized and the outcast, those who have suffered, and those who seek
redemption.
You remind us of the costs of war, particularly on the powerless
and defenseless, and urge us toward the imperative of peace. Holy Father, we
are grateful for your invaluable support of our new beginning with the Cuban
people, which holds out the promise of better relations between our countries,
greater cooperation across our hemisphere, and a better life for the Cuban
people. We thank you for your passionate voice against the deadly conflicts
that ravage the lives of so many men, women, and children; and your call for
nations to resist the sirens of war and resolve disputes through diplomacy.
You remind us that people are only truly free when they can
practice their faith freely. Here in the United States, we cherish religious
liberty. Yet around the world at this very moment, children of God, including
Christians, are targeted and even killed because of their faith. Believers are
prevented from gathering at their places of worship. The faithful are
imprisoned. Churches are destroyed. So we stand with you in defense of religious
freedom and interfaith dialogue, knowing that people everywhere must be able to
live out their faith free from fear and intimidation.
And, Holy Father, you remind us that we have a sacred obligation
to protect our planet – God’s magnificent gift to us. We support your call to
all world leaders to support the communities most vulnerable to a changing
climate and to come together to preserve our precious world for future
generations.
Your Holiness, in your words and deeds, you set a profound moral
example. And in these gentle but firm reminders of our obligations to God and
to one another, you are shaking us out of complacency. All of us may, at times,
experience discomfort when we contemplate the distance between how we lead our
daily lives and what we know to be true and right. But I believe such
discomfort is a blessing, for it points to something better. You shake our
conscience from slumber; you call on us to rejoice in Good News, and give us
confidence that we can come together, in humility and service, and pursue a
world that is more loving, more just, and more free. Here at home and around
the world, may our generation heed your call to “never remain on the sidelines
of this march of living hope!”
For that great gift of hope, Holy Father, we thank you, and
welcome you, with joy and gratitude, to the United States of America.
For more information, please visit: http://www.news.va/en/news/president-obama-welcomes-pope-francis-to-the-unite
Please
find below the full text of Pope Francis’ speech, his first address in English:
Good morning!
Mr President,
I am deeply grateful for your welcome in the
name of all Americans. As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to
be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families. I
look forward to these days of encounter and dialogue, in which I hope to listen
to, and share, many of the hopes and dreams of the American people.
During my visit I will have the honor of
addressing Congress, where I hope, as a brother of this country, to offer words
of encouragement to those called to guide the nation’s political future in
fidelity to its founding principles. I will also travel to Philadelphia
for the Eighth World Meeting of Families, to celebrate and support the institutions
of marriage and the family at this, a critical moment in the history of our
civilization.
Mr. President, together with their fellow
citizens, American Catholics are committed to building a society which is truly
tolerant and inclusive, to safeguarding the rights of individuals and
communities, and to rejecting every form of unjust discrimination. With
countless other people of good will, they are likewise concerned that efforts
to build a just and wisely ordered society respect their deepest concerns and
their right to religious liberty. That freedom remains one of America’s
most precious possessions. And, as my brothers, the United States
Bishops, have reminded us, all are called to be vigilant, precisely as good
citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would
threaten or compromise it.
Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you
are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution. Accepting the
urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can
no longer be left to a future generation. When it comes to the care of
our “common home”, we are living at a critical moment of history. We
still have time to make the changes needed to bring about “a sustainable and
integral development, for we know that things can change” (Laudato Si’, 13).
Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition not
only of the kind of world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the
millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them. Our
common home has been part of this group of the excluded which cries out to
heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities and our
societies. To use a telling phrase of the Reverend Martin Luther King, we
can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to
honor it.
We know by faith that “the Creator does not
abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us.
Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common
home” (Laudato Si’, 13). As Christians inspired by this certainty, we
wish to commit ourselves to the conscious and responsible care of our common
home.
The efforts which were recently made to mend broken relationships and to
open new doors to cooperation within our human family represent positive steps
along the path of reconciliation, justice and freedom. I would like all
men and women of good will in this great nation to support the efforts of the
international community to protect the vulnerable in our world and to stimulate
integral and inclusive models of development, so that our brothers and sisters
everywhere may know the blessings of peace and prosperity which God wills for
all his children.
Mr. President, once again I thank you for your welcome, and I look forward to these days in your country. God bless America!
For more information please visit:
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-freedom-is-one-of-americas-most-precious-poss
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-freedom-is-one-of-americas-most-precious-poss
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It was a glorious day in Washington, DC, with a clear blue sky and
sunshine highlighting the blessings God has showered upon us! Thanks be to God, and to those who are signs
of His care, for the privilege to attend the Welcome Ceremony. It was a joy to return to the South Lawn of
the White House as part of the crowd that welcomed Pope Francis to the USA and
to hear him deliver an address in English for the very first time! You were with me in spirit and united in prayer.
And some memories of Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Visit in 2008:
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