As the sun rose over the Capitol building, thousands of people blanketed the lawn. Many had waited for hours into the night to stake out spots in hopes of catching a glance of His Holiness Pope Francis or even just the jumbotron.
An estimated 50,000 people filed in, starting at 4:30 a.m. Thursday, for the Pope’s 10:00 address to a joint session of Congress, which was aired live on the jumbotrons, and his 11:00 appearance in front of the West Lawn. He is the first Pope to ever address a joint session of Congress.
This once-in-a-lifetime event drew people together from all religions, all ethnicities and all over the world. The chatter was of many languages, and many different flags were flown. Strangers laughed together and played games as they waited through the cold dawn and into the warm fall morning.
When the Pope arrived in his black Fiat “Popemobile” at the Capitol building, the jumbotrons started broadcasting. The crowd all jolted up with anticipation from their relaxing on the lawn.
Throughout the morning, the crowd continued to yell chants, primarily in Spanish, such as, “Que viva Papa! Que viva!”, meaning “Long live the Pope! Long live!”
The applause lasted for several minutes as the Pope was formally introduced in front of Congress.
“I am most grateful for the invitation to speak to the joint session of Congress in the land of the free and the home of the brave,” the Pope said.
He addressed controversial political and social issues including climate change, the death penalty, the refugee crisis, immigration and the fight against poverty. Periodically, he had to stop speaking mid-sentence because of the cheers of Congress and crowd members.
“He knew how to talk about hot topics that people wanted to listen to and he made it interesting,” said junior Grace Goldman, who attended Thursday’s festivities. “He brought them up and didn’t seem to be pushing his values on anyone.”
This particular Pope has been praised for reaching people of all religions due to his progressive ideology. He’s gone beyond the traditional Roman Catholic values and helped the people in unique ways, such as auctioning away his Harley Davidson to help the homeless. He is also considered to be a hip Pope—he regularly tweets and was Rolling Stone magazine’s first religious cover star, among other accolades.
The Pope spoke about the universal “Golden Rule” to introduce his stance against the death penalty and allude to his pro-life stance on abortion.
“The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development. This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty,” he said.
Following his address to Congress, Speaker of the House John Boehner and Vice President Joe Biden ushered the Pope out onto the Speaker’s Balcony of the Capitol Building. He greeted the people with a “Buenos dias”. Thousands held cameras and phones in the air to capture him waving to the people. Boehner started to tear up as he looked out on the diverse mass of cheering people.
In the Pope’s brief greeting to the people, spoken only in Spanish, he recited a blessing to everyone and asked them to pray for him as well.
Even just the few words he spoke had a profound impact.
“He said ‘God bless you’, which was the coolest thing because you always hear it in mass and it was just so cool to hear the Pope say that,” said sophomore Brooke Gumataotao, who attended Wednesday’s festivities.
The cheering audience erupted for the last time as the Pope concluded his greeting to them on the West Lawn and returned inside the Capitol Building. The crowd then spilled into the streets of D.C. in one mass exodus.
