By Jason Berry
WASHINGTON -- The capital city on the Potomac resembled a parade scene from The Canterbury Tales as climate activists rallied to welcome "the green pope" while travelers from far-flung places gathered on the Capitol lawn on a sunny morning as large video screens broadcast Pope Francis's speech to Congress.
Pope Francis addresses a joint meeting of the US Congress in the House Chamber of the US Capitol on September 24, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) In a hands-across-the-table, first-of-its-kind appeal before the joint session, the pope called "for a courageous and responsible effort ... to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity."
Speaking before a Congress that sits low in American opinion polls due to its toxic and paralyzing divisions, the pope tossed a verbal bouquet to America's top elected officials, saying that their work "makes me reflect...on the figure of Moses," an analogy of sure bipartisan appeal.
Moses the lawgiver, said Francis, was one who "by means of just legislation ... leads us directly to God and thus to the transcendent dignity of the human being."
But Francis also challenged his audience to put the "common good" above the drive for power.
"A good political leader always opts to initiate processes rather than possessing spaces," he said.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who is in New York as part of a team of mayors working with the Vatican on climate change and sustainable development, told GroundTruth,"The pope gave us a pathway to find common ground on tough issues where the parties don't always agree,"
"Speeches and visits like we are witnessing today from the pope do have the ability to change the direction we are going in. He challenged us to work together with civility for common good, said Landrieu, who also spoke at a July climate change conference at the Vatican for mayors. Francis read to Congress from a prepared text in slow, dulcet tones. He spoke in English, a language he rarely uses. Francis remarked "on a temptation which we must especially guard against: the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners. The contemporary world, with its open wounds which affect so many of our brothers and sisters, demands that we confront every form of polarization which would divide it into these two camps."
He also appealed to Congress for solidarity in facing a "refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War" -- which include those traveling from Central America and Mexico into the US.
"Thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities," he said. "Is this not what we want for our own children? We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons ... We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'"
The biblical line perhaps assured the applause that followed, though how far the pope's moral logic will go on immigration policy will take time to register, church experts say. "I think the speech will resonate with the whole American people, especially the invitation to unity and not to divide the world, and country, between righteous and sinners," Professor Massimo Faggioli, director of the Institute for Catholicism and Citizenship at University of St. Thomas told GroundTruth.
Said Francis, "All of us are quite aware of, and deeply worried by, the disturbing social and political situation of the world today. Our world is increasingly a place of violent conflict, hatred and brutal atrocities, committed even in the name of God and of religion. We know that no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. This means that we must be especially attentive to every type of fundamentalism, whether religious or of any other kind." His speech cited four Americans as reference points - President Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day as well as Thomas Merton, a prolific author and Cistercian monk.
He stressed dialogue as a hallmark in "the historical memory of all your people" and called Lincoln "the guardian of liberty, who labored tirelessly. ... Building a future of freedom requires love of the common good."
He drew widespread applause in citing Martin Luther King and the 1965 Selma march saying "the dream continues to inspire us...and I am happy that America continues for many to be a land of dreams."
He drew applause again in saying, "Most of us were once foreigners."
In an appeal for the rights of migratory peoples, he said: "When the stranger in our midst appears to us, we must not repeat the sins and the errors of the past."
A rare cloud of unity covered the bipolar Congress as House Speaker John Boehner, a long-ago altar boy who sent the invitation to the pope, highlighted members of the bipartisan escort committee. He included "the gentlewoman from California, Ms. Nancy Pelosi," a pro-choice Democrat and previous speaker of the House. The good-will fervor blanketing this city has created traffic logjams and attracted vendors hawking T-shirts with Francis's image amid a heightened police and security presence.
At Wednesday's canonization Mass for Father Junípero Serra, founder of the California missions, black-uniformed Secret Service agents perched on the rim of the gilded blue dome of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception gazed down, scanning the streets. The pope set a more brotherly tone earlier Wednesday in remarks at the White House with President Obama, saying, "As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families." An Argentinian, he broadened the geographic reference in telling Congress on Thursday: "I too am a son of this great continent, from which we have all received so much and toward which we share a common responsibility." Professor Natalia Imperatori-Lee, director of the Catholic Studies Program at Manhattan College, told GroundTruth: "What an amazing speech. He emphasized the primacy of dialogue and reframing the discourse of life to focus on the abolition of the death penalty and the use of the world's resources for the common good. He was, at every turn, a bridge builder who laid bare how our country's culture wars have isolated us from the human family that he clearly views as one. He repeatedly referred to himself as an American, opening our concept beyond the US on the totality of this diverse continent. Most notable for me: the drop-off in applause between his line about the dignity of all human life, and the next line, calling for the global abolition of the death penalty. We have a lot of work to do." GroundTruth religion correspondent Jason Berry is the author of Render unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church among other books.