Pope in DC

Photo by Patrick Jones. 17th & G Street, DC. 23 Sep 2015.

Today Pope Francis made his visit to the White House and parade around the Ellipse and National Mall in Washington DC. While I am not Catholic, my Granny's family from Arizona were Catholic, and tracing the family back to Mexico we have a long history of records in the Catholic Church (as well as our family connection to Bartolomé Suastegui, bishop of Sonora). Unfortunately I missed the parade, but I did follow the events online and later made it into DC.

Pope Francis brought a welcome message and touched on immigration in his opening remarks, stating "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 the Pope's parade through DC, he had a powerful moment with a 5-year old girl who carried a letter and a t-shirt in support of immigrants. I am interested to see how the rest of the visit goes, including tomorrow's address to Congress.

Source: AP Photo, Twitter.