Vatican City, 24 September 2015 (VIS) –
Yesterday more than two hundred thousand people awaited Pope Francis
outside the White House, where shortly after 9 a.m. local time (3
p.m. in Rome) he was welcomed by President Barack Obama and the First
Lady, Michelle Obama. They accompanied him to the podium erected in
the grounds of the presidential residence, where before two thousand
people the Holy Father gave his first address in the United States.
In his discourse he affirmed that, “as
the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this
country, which was largely built by such families”, and highlighted
the commitment of American Catholics, along with their fellow
citizens, to constructing a tolerant and inclusive society and to
rejecting every form of unjust discrimination. The Pope also
mentioned the importance of the right to religious freedom and the
duty of defending it from anything that might threaten or compromise
it.
Francis praised Barack Obama's
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”, he said. “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'. 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 honour it. … Humanity still has the ability to work
together in building our common home. As Christians inspired by this
certainty, we wish to commit ourselves to the conscious and
responsible care of our common home”.
The Holy Father also mentioned recent
efforts “to mend broken relationships and to open new doors to
cooperation within our human family” which “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”, he concluded,
“once again I thank you for your welcome, and I look forward to
these days in your country. God bless America!”.
At the end of the welcome ceremony, the
Pope and the president retired to the Oval Office where an exchange
of gifts and a private discussion took place, attended by members of
President Obama's family. The Pope's gift was a bronze medallion
commemorating the Eighth World Meeting of Families, to be celebrated
on 27 September in Philadelphia.
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