gumballs are going everywhere on these official police vehicles. >> absolutely and looks like and we cannot tell if they are sirens or the motorcade approaching and if they are it's a few minutes before the pope gets in the pope mobile and starts the trek down 5th avenue and thank you and that sit for the special edition of al jazeera america and i'm tony harris in new york and "inside story" with ray begins right now. >> the head of the catholic church made a much anticipated speech to a jointly meeting of congress. he touched on many issues, including wealth and poverty, care of the planet and caring for the world's poor and vulnerable. francis is the first to ever speak to congress. we'll look at his agenda and how in the modern era the bishop of roam is a true leader, for sure,

but pope francis in america, it's the "inside story." welcome to "inside story," it's a ray suarez. when the pope visits the united states, he last two tafngz before him. speak to the 70 million catholics, and speak to the 200 plus americans who aren't, about concerns common to all people. he carries a tradition of authority one that catholic teaching hod was passed down from jesus himself. but when talking to others he must persuade n instead. a heroic example of four americans, two catholics and two who were not.

>> a nation can be considered great, when it defends liberty. as lincoln did . when it teaches us a culture that enables people to dream of full rights for all brothers and sisters. as martin luther king sought to do. when it strives for justice in the cause of the oppressed as dorothy day did by her walk, a face which becomes dialogue and so in the contemplative style of thomas malcolm. >> you're looking at a live picture now are from new york

city, the pope traveled this from washington, d.c. at this moment he's making the transfer from the fiat 500l that he's been traveling around in to the modified jeep wrangler that allows him to stand up in the back and see the crowd and be seen by it. he's on his way to a newly refurbished st. patrick's cathedral the seat of the archbishop of new york to have even prepare at that place of worship sparkling like a gem, in time of the pope's visit. civil public utility and religious life of new york city will join him in prayer including the as archbishop of w york, timothy doe lan. libby casey has more. >> packed with many of america's most powerful.

the vice president, supreme court justices and members of congress. >> we must renew the spirit of fraternity and solidarity. cooperating generously for the common good. >> reporter: with themes of liberty, social justice and an openness to god ep pope francis mixed the spiritually and political. he urged compassion for new generations seeking a better life. >> we, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners. because most of us -- [applause] >> because most of us were once foreigners. [applause] >> reporter: and emotional response from republican

presidential candidate senators marco rubio the son of cuban immigrants, one of many moments that touched the assembled audience. >> the golden rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life, at every stage of its development. [applause] >> the pope invoked the golden rule, do unto others as would you have them do unto you. valuing all human life, a reference to abortion. he didn't shy away from other controversial issues like fighting climate change. >> that we can make a difference, i'm sure. [applause] >> and i have no doubt that the united states, and this congress, have an important roae

to play. >> reporter: and speaking from the capital of the biggest arms exporter, the pope condemned arms sales. retreated to a greeting from the speaker's balcony. the pope declined a lunch invitation with alcohol power brokers, choosing instead to spend his remaining hours in the nation's capital with washington's homeless. a decision symbolic of the pope's priorities and message. ray, members of congress who were in the house chamber today are all talking about what they liked about this speech. those on the more conservative end of the spectrum are pulling out the pope's details about respecting all life of course referring to abortion, also religious liberty, those on the left are talking about his call

to fight income and equality and work towards climate change fixing that issue, not just for the environment but for humanity. so everyone is hearing what they want of the pope's speech. what everyone seems to have in common however is an appreciation for his humility and his authenticity. ray. >> libby casey, live from exom. capitol hill, thank you for joining us. on the right side of your screen, pope francis makes it to new york city for evening prayer. pope francis in america. paul valalee, author, and ed mcguire, and father thomas reese, senior analyst for the catholic reporter and author of inside the vatican the politics and organization of the catholic church. paul valalee, let me start with

you. the pope in his career in the church his previous life as a cardinal and a bishop has never been to the united states yet he showed some familiarity with the history and culture of the united states in his speech. do you have to go to school on america before you come here because of the prominence of the stage and the bright lights of the world's media? >> well there's no doubt that he did his homework before he came. but he started by saying, we americans, we from the south of america, as well as we from the north. and that very much set the tone. because he said that he was an immigrant son as so many people are who founded the united states of america. and he was making common cause, in that way. so he was trying to not say that he was an outsider who had had to study america. but he was saying he was part of the understanding of this place, and that we have to move forward in common together.

>> and he mentioned several prominent americans from our history, paul. thomas merton the monk. abraham lincoln the president, dorothy day the social justice activist and prominent catholic from the early part of the 20th century and of course the reverend martin luther king. an interesting quartet. >> what he was saying is you've got greatness here in the united states, you've got the founding ideals now, please live up to them. like everything else in his speech it was soft but it was firm. it was a very cleaver speech, because it tried to include people, the key speech was dialogue, encounter, cooperation, consensus. so rather like he was speaking to the u.s. bishops yesterday and said to them i haven't come there to lecture you, but he gave them a lecture in a soft

way. an end to division, an end to confrontation, let's move forward and the politics is about building the common good. it's not about building national seself interest, it's about makg the world a better place. >> i'm wondering if detractors and cheerleaders felt a little bit of anticlimax. there was so much of this speech before the joint sessions of congress, some of it very overheated, it comes out though and it was a very interesting speech and as paul says clever speech it should be read and read between the lines. but has there been that much of a change in tone that we could compare this to other pea papal visits and see some really different? >> i think what's remarkable here is he went counter to the

narrative. people said woe come to lecture congress, people said he didn't like america, people said he didn't like the middle class that he hated business people. and he just dealt with all of those issues. it was quite clear he loves america. that he likes america. he admires america what it's done, its ideals, its values, how it's hoped so many people to grow and yet he kept saying, but can you do more. and the same -- but you can do more. he urged us on to do better he invited us to dialogue. instead of a lecture he invited everyone to participate in a dialogue. i loved when he talked about polarization. because not only do we have a problem of polarization internationally, we have a problem of polarization in our country, the divisions. it was like he was saying to the congress, get over your partisanship, let's get together, sit down work out

these problems, serve the country some solve the problems of the country and the world. >> you've written about the inner workings of the vatican. this speech traded with the united states does he work with a team on something like this? are these words vetted not only by people inside the vatican, but the papal representative in the united states would have seen this text before the pope went to congress, for instance. >> all of the above. i mean, the pope is helped by a very professional class of experts in the secretariat of state. they are some of the most professional. he also gets advice from his very good friend, cardinal sean

o'malley from boston. he has advisors who know this. he wasn't totally ignorant of the united states before. he's watched the united states all of his life. because it is the super-power. it is so influential in the world. >> the pope's modified jeep wrangler has arrived at the front of st. patrick's cathedral just across from rockefeller center, she's tetche he's steppe cheers of the crowd, and the church has just undergone a major renovation, took several years. i think the final phases of it were rushed so the scaffolding could be entirely removed for arrival of this pretty important guest. president mcguire i understand that you couldn't tear yourself away from the beginning of the semester to see the pope but you watched the speech from your very busy office. this is a church you've watched

your whole life. what did you make of this visit so far? >> well, it was just spectacular and our students on campus, many of them went to the mass yesterday at the basilica and a number of them were down on the west capital lawn today to hear it. they're over the moon. couple of things that i actually spoke to our students this afternoon about. first of all, the pope led with the common good. and while he didn't exactly lecture, he certainly made it clear, as a good passion o past, and a good professional would, that the good call to politics was not the self interest but the common good. he repeated the refrain of the common good several times early in his speech and he said the purpose of politics is to make the whole better, and to care for society. the purpose of politics is not the pursuit of narrow self-interest. i think that call to community and common good, it is deeply catholic but it is also, deeply american. it is the habits of the heart

that we have not heard enough about recently that he is calling us back to. and the students resonated with this. those i talked to today love him for that. >> cardinal archbishop of new york, timothy dolan with the pope outside st. patrick's cathedral. the pope was greeted by the mayor of new york, one of the tallest americans, bill deblasio, deblasio speaks reasonably well in italian and made visits to italy, that was the language that the two have had in common. the pope as has been reported a great deal lately, been boning up on his english around certainly spoke in great effect during this visit so far. heading up the stairs and into the doors of st. patrick's. with all of this talk of

corporation, the pope is a very important place in american catholicism, it is a symbol of immigrant america right tom? >> absolutely. it really is moving to see these events unfold. as a student of american history i remember back when al smith ran for president and he was accused of planning to build a tunnel from the white house to rome. and the pope appearing on the balcony of the white house, and then on the balcony of the congress, this was the fear of every member of the kkk, the know-nothings, the anti-immigrant people who were anticatholic in our history, it shows how much these poor immigrant catholics who were so discriminated against, have now become part of american society and accepted. and are flourishing. and that's one of the things that he pointed to.

>> the choir of st. patrick's welcoming the pope as he comes through grand entrance of st. patrick's cathedral. >> paul vallale, the pope recently took on people who say he's a leftist a socialist a marxist. he was ban terg with the people on thpeople -- bantering to the people on the plane coming from cuba to washington. he's saying they're saying i'm a leftie, he seems to be walking a fine line here. >> he is walking a fine line here. and catholic social teaching has done that, trying to find a way between communism and capitalism, trying to find a more sociable, sustainable, kinder catholicism. he's trying to find a blild way. it was very interesting in this

speech he did reply to criticisms on the speech, where in bolivia he talked about capitalism being the stink of the dung of the devil, the love of money. and a reporter on the plane said to him, you know what about hardworking people who pay their tamps? well here in this speech he mentions hard people who pay their taxes. so he's a pope who listens but he's a pope who expects other people to listen. and it's no good, democrats and republicans, taking from the pope's speech the bits that they like. he will expect them to listen to the parts of it that they find uncomfortable. and it's a very carefully written speech and people really need to read it rather than just listening to it. especially as the pope delivered it in that kind of hesitant english. he's been working on his english and improved a lot this summer, but still, you need to read that to get to grips with it. >> tom mcguire, we have just

seen the pope moving through the streets of new york, many people interested in seeing the pope this is a man because of his position is a global celebrity. joseph stalin asked how many divisions does the pope have obviously referring the his military power, obviously he doesn't have any but in 2015 what does pope have instead of an army? >> first of all a pastoral quality that everyone is referring to. the fact that this poe pope hasn able to do what his two predecessors were unable to do, bringing people together in the center rather than driving them to the edges. he has this magnetic quality, it was in his message, we must set aside left or right, we must set aside extremism. i find it remarkable that he says all people of face-to-face

to walk in the center to care for each other. the american people are resonating with that. people of all faiths are resonating with that. he is able to create unity in this country, when all of these politicians have created division. and that is very compelling, that's why people are cheering for him by the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands out in new york and washington. and i'm sure they will be in philadelphia. >> paul villele, the poach is being encountered as a intervenor, does it matter why they are here to hear you, as long as they are there to hear you? >> i don't think it matters at all. when when in st. peter' peter's, the crowd shouts francesco,

francesco? is he said no, jesus, jesus. he's reaching out beyond christians to a wider world. he wants this to have universal appeal. throughout my book i have dozens of examples of this, through his actions not his word. what the people will remember most about this visit isn't the speech to congress or the appearance here at the white house. it's the little car, the little fiat. the man who's the leader of the biggest church of the world, drives the smallest car. that's his message. >> father tom, you saw in social media and i've spent all day watching what people were saying, and posting after posting after posting began, i'm not a catholic but. and they would say what they like or didn't like about what the pope had to say. columnists in the nation's

largest and most-read newspapers, letting it slip in photograph 3 or 4, i used to be a catholic or i'm not a christian at all, they still weighed in on what the pope had to say. is this part of the arrangement amount of this leade -- the armt of this pope, the mysteriousen grandeur that the pope might have had in the 19th century but you have something else? >> i think this pope is really unusual in the way in which so many people have responded to him. but he's not the normal celebrity. it's because -- i mean celebrities are always selling themselves. and this man is selling the gospel message. this man is selling jesus. too many people, it's all about me. and when you see him in interaction with sick people, with young people, with

families, it's all about them for him. this guy's the real-deal. he's authentic. he not only preaches the gospel, he lives it. and i think people see that. and that's what they like about him. that's what attracts him is that he's the real deal. >> these are live pictures from st. patrick's cathedral in new york city. pope francis praying before this evening's prayer service begins at that grand seat of the archdiocese of new york. this has historically been an immigrant church and it was only when immigration went way down and it was the children and grandchildren of catholic immigrants who came to prominence in the united states, probably like you, that that taint came off of cliquism and

conflicts wericatholics were ser americans. >> they did not want to talk about their heritage back then. here is what the pope said today that i was just so taken with. he uses american rhetoric to address thing immigration issue, we the people are not afraid of foreigners. i love that part. it took we the peach from our founding fathers and said we are not afraid of the other. and he also said all of us have come from somewhere else. and he acknowledged the nation of immigrants. he rooted himself in the americas. i love that his opening line, i am a son of this continent which meant that you can't cut off the people from the south, we are all part of the same land, we are all part of the same earth. this is very important for

catholics to hear because catholics are such a force on the supreme court, in the congress, in the state legislatures. we have arrived and politically, it makes no sense for catholics to forget the centrality of their faith or the teachings of social justice, not the left or right but ther moral core of caring for everyone. >> paul valalee, the largest group in the united states, by far, is pope francis also visiting a battered church, more people heading for exits than being baptized or received into the church as converts? >> part of that is true, but is he speaking spanish to those, the language he's most comfortable with. but francis is not concerned with the institutional church.

somebody asked me the other day is he about putting butts on seats, and he's not. he's into getting the gospel into the world. if the church isn't that, it's an obstacle then he wants to reform it, and he's bringing changes throughout the whole raft of the different departments of the vatican. but the key approach is this idea that the church should be like a field hospital where people are brought in to be helped and to be cured and it's out there in the streets, it's the kind of mash of the religious world. and that's something which is really important to him. but it's about the gospel rather than about numbers. >> the choir is singing a selection of various songs of genuine laitionjubilation, praig jesus's words as the man held in transition as the first pope.

but also among the musical selections, an ave maria, from ass teas ter piazzola. is the church feeling the same winds of secularization that all the churches are facing now? >> i think catholic church faces many of the same problems and challenges that other churches face. we've lost one out of three people who were raised catholic, have left the church. we're getting to the point where those who are un-church or respond none when they're asked what their religion is, in a few years there are going to be more of them than there are catholics in the united states. the question is, how do we respond to that? we see that these people are responding to pope francis. they are very attracted, they like what they see in pope francis.

some of them are saying, well maybe i should give the church another chance. the problem here is that although the pope is very important, he's not the catholic church. we live our faith on the local level in parishes. so when these people come back they're looking for soak like pope francis to greet them at the door and if they're greeted by a judgmental bureaucrat who yells at them they're going to make a u-turn and go right out the door. the clergy has to adopt the priorities and the styles of pope francis which are the priorities and style of jesus. >> reminding you you're looking at live pictures in st. patrick's accredit need ral in new york. patrick's cathedral in new york. the pope stepped aside into a sacristy and put on his

vestments. they will begin a service that doesn't include holy communion, just an evening prayer service with many of the civil, religious and other dignitaries of common life in new york city, including the mayor of new york city, and the archbishop of new york timothy dolan. paul vilelli, pat mcguire, and father thomas reese is senior analyst of the national catholic reporter and author of inside the vatican, the politics of the catholic church. thank you for joining us for this special edition of "inside story." tony harris has more on the pope's visit to america and the deadly stampede in mecca. see you next time.

this is al jazeera america, live from new york city, i am tony harris. crushed to death. more than 700 pilgrims killed during i'll stampede at the annual hajj pilgrimage. the chinese president arrives in washington, d.c. to talk trade and cyber security. and prayers at st. patrick's. the pope's first vent in new york city. ♪ ♪ perhaps