state. we're being paid a state visit by the sovereign head of the holy see right now. and so at the surface the relationship is good. i think below that there's some pretty serious important issues about which we differ. >> and they are? >> well they are issues of faith and morals and religious liberty. this administration is a strong advocate proponent of abortion. they're supporting planned parenthood who has apparently sold the body parts of aborted fetuses. that is not something the vatican or this pope condones. they don't condone the imperatives of providing contraceptives to employees that come out of the obamacare act. they don't condone gay marriage. i mean, this pope has been

pretty orthodox on these fundamental values that the catholic church stands for and has for centuries. on the other hand, he is showing a great deal of openness and expansiveness and asking for people to be merciful and loving of all people, of all stripes and believfs. and personally, i think that's fine too. that's christ-like. but it doesn't mean that you don't have standards to which you could aspire. and those standards i think have different between the holy see and the united states currently under this president. >> he is making this visit as a head of state. what's the significance of that in. >> the pope is a unique figure in the world. he is the head of state of one of the oldest sovereign states in the world and he's also the head of one of the major

religions were the catholic church that has 1.3 billion people. so he brings with him a great deal of attention and a great deal of moral authority and a great deal of moral curiosity. and thus all the interest. i mean, you don't see the president of the united states and his wife and the vice president of the united states and his wife going to andrews to great a head of state when they come in. you saw that yesterday for the pope. so this fellow, this man has a real reach across the world and certainly here in the united states. >> what impact do you think he will have on americans, on decision makers, on lawmakers as they listen to him tomorrow in a joint meeting. >> he will have a significant

impact because he has a lot of moral authority. he is, you know, a very humble, loving, open, compassionate figure. and i think people are yearning for leadership like that. and he's filling that void across all religious stripes. i mean i'm in a law firm with about 300 lawyers and professionals of all religions, jewish, protestant, and they have a great deal of interest an affection for this pope. it's so interesting to me because they come up all of the time and want to talk about this pope. and they have even before the advent of this visit. he's captured the interest of people universally throughout the world. and it's a positive influence. it's one, let's care about the poor of our planet. let's care about the vulnerable of our planet. he's said other things about which i don't necessarily agree,

things about the global warming and some of the ways that we can best help the poor and therein the divide among a lot of people including myself. >> we're talking about pope francy's visit to the united states, his impact he will have on americans, polly decision makers and others, and all of you. what do you think that will be? we're discussing diplomatic relations with jim nicholson who served as the ambassador to the holy see from 2001 to five, before that republican national committee chair. he's taking your questions and your thoughts on this. we'll go to maryland, a democrat, marilyn, good morning to you. >> caller: i'd like to put my two cents in. i'm from philadelphia, right outside of philadelphia and we're looking forward to welcoming the pope.

i think we'll listen carefully to what he said. it was mayor nutter of philadelphia who, in concert with the world, family meeting that first invited the pope to the united states. open so he's going to have a lot to say about families as well. i think from listening to him i think he's a nice mix of the conservative and the change oriented. and i think he's swell. >> okay, marilyn. let's take that point. nice mix of the conservative and change. what do you think of that? >> of the pope? a mix in the pope? >> yeah >> i think that's accurate. he's been very orthodox on the major contemporary discussions about value, about abortion, about marriage and about contraception. he's held the line.

on the other hand, he's said, you know, we're all failed human beings, we're all sinners and we have to show mercy to those who don't comport necessarily with our standards, our doctrine, our faith and morals. and i think that's christlike. he's also said, sort of off the cuff in a conversation when asked about a gay priest, he said, who am i to judge? i think that has thrown some things into the hat because i think some people interpreted that to mean he's not to judge anything. and i don't think that's what the pope meant. i hope it's not. >> when you served as ambassador, how would you -- draw the differences between this pope and previous popes. >> the pope i was the most familiar with was john paul ii, now saint john paul, ii.

he too was a charismatic man of energy before he got so sick with parkinson's disease. he knew how to use the modern day media well, was a great communicator. then there was pope benedict, a more scholarly person and kept his own council more. and now we have francis who is a real extrovert and is a very popular person in the world, maybe the most popular person in the world. and so what he says gets a great deal of attention which is why i think it's so important about what he says and what he thinks. there are some areas i think that maybe he's being misguided or his experience growing up in argentina growing up in the pa roens has formed his thinking on

such things as capitalism and economic systems and free markets. i think the united states is a perfect model to demonstrate to him the two days he's here in washington, at least, four days in the u.s., what capitalism means and what it can do for people and how it can allow them to come out of poverty. and when it does in the united states case, we share that with other people in other countries. that's a great model. argentina is no model. argentina 100 years ago was one of the economic powerhouses of the world. i think it was 13th per capita gdp. it's now 75th or something in the world. it's blessed with great human resources, great natural resources. it's a matter of governance. it's socialist, drone any corruptness that's caused the

problem. >> you mentioned the pope's popularity. he's not on facebook but he is on twitter with 7.23 million followers. his latest tweet as he left cuba yesterday, thank you to the cuban people. thank you from my heart. his last tweet was before he left for his trip to cuba and the united states asking for prayers for his trip. marina in california, a republican. >> caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the issue i am to address, that has to do with what i see is conflicting messages from the pope regarding socialism and capitalism. my family came from the soviet union in the '70s to the united states. and we see the difference and know the harm of socialism. and the benefits of capitalism.

pope did grow up during the times when socialism was achieved by military takeover, and it led to what is left. capitalism is a healthiest normal form of competition. its laws equally apply to everybody. pope comes to cuba and says he's -- doesn't say but indicates he's anti-communist. and then he comes to the united states with a message that follows him that capitalism is wrong. what is going on -- >> ambassador nicholson. >> well i'm not sure that he has said that capitalism is wrong. but i can see how you could interpret that. he did say, when he was leaving

south america a few weeks ago, that the capitalists model, the business model -- he didn't use the word capitalism. the business model in the world today is one of profits at any cost with disregard for the poor and the environment. and you know, we all have our beliefs based on how we were raised and how we were trained. and apparently he believes that. i sincerely think he believes that. but that's not the case. that is not the united states of america. and that's why i think it's so important that he learn more about our system of governance. governance by the people. in your country still, hopefully -- i think it's eroding. but you know, the government serves the people and the people are the master of the government. and in this case, this experiment here in america, it's

a capitalist free market enterprise that has been so successful. so you just illustrated the two extreme models. the soviet model which was an object failure and the united states model which has been an object success. i mean look around us. we have people that are deemed to be in poverty in this country, some 45 million of them. but if you compare their median incomes to other countries, including mexico, they would be in the upper middle class in mexico. 70% of the people deemed to be in poverty in our country today have air conditioning. most of them have automobiles. almost all of them have cell phones. so i'm not indicating that i'm insensitive to their plight, because we want them to come out of that as well, but they have the greatest opportunity here in america to do that, to become

part of this free market enterprise that has been so successful. and that is a very important point and one that i hope the pope learns a lot more about while he's here and after he leaves here. having been here for the first time. >> richard in spartan, new jersey, a democrat. >> caller: hi. mr. nicholson mentioned abortion. i'd like to point out that if you would have to move to another country and you wanted the abortion to be legal, you could move to spain, sweden, korea, japan, all of the european countries. if you wanted to move to a country where abortion is against the law, which would -- you could move to afghanistan, you could move to the congo, egypt. there are all kinds of third world islamic countries. my mother tld me you're known by

the company you keep. apparently him nicholson wants us to be known with the country of the leaders. i'd like for him to explain why they're right and all of europe is wrong on abortion. >> i think that abortion is wrong. i think it's a violation of natural law. and i think those that are so interested in human rights should be interested in the right of a human that's been cr created in the womb of a woman. we tried to pass a piece of legislation here the last couple of days to at least protect a fetus in the womb after 20 weeks because it's been deemed when they are aborted they feel pain and there are a lot of people out there and friends of yours and mine probably that have great interest in animals and we don't inflict pain on animals.

we should have the same sensitivity of human beings in the womb of a woman who feel the pain of having their life taken away from them. so it's -- you know, it's a fundamental value that a lot of us possess. and by the way, i will say happily that the number of abortions in the country has gone down, i think, by about 15% in just the last few years. i think part of that is because of the technology that's available for people to see these young human beings in the womb of their mother and their movements and so forth. it gives them a more graphic visitization that that is a human being. >> president obama is 20 minutes away from welcoming pope francis to the white house. the crowds have gathered here. those folks have been lining up

since early this morning hoping to see the pope and say hello to him as he makes his way outside the doors, into a car and then e he'll head down to the white house where he will be greeted by folks who were lucky enough to have a ticket. you can see many on the screen there, in the overall crowd of so,000. they're including the folks in the eclipse area hoping to get a glimpse of the pope when he does a brief parade after the welcoming ceremony. i was coming in this morning to the studio, 4:00 a.m. and i saw folks lined up to get to r through security to get to the pa ray route. children awake very early hoping to get a glimpse of this. what do you think the pope will get out of this visit seeing the american people, seeing the

american political system up close, our joint meeting of congress, the first ever for a pope? >> it will be multilevelled. the one he'll go away with the very warm appreciative feeling of the welcome, the response that he's gotten from the american people. again, people of all religious stripes. i mean, they like this pope. they respect this pope. i think -- i hope that he will go away with a greater appreciation for the economic system of our country, which has been the driver of all of this prosperity and this generosity that we've had and the ability that we've had to go to europe twice and liberate europe and asia with our young soldiers and the material wherewithal that went with that to equip them in these wars.

and he's never been here before. so every experience is a new experience for him. and i think he's going to have a very positive enlightened view of what a fantastic country this is and what a fantastic economic system complimented by a rule of law that really works. >> mary jo is next in tulsa, oklahoma. a democrat. hi, mary jo. >> caller: i have a couple of things to point out. i really really endorse this pope's stand with regard to the poor and his own personal humility is the example. just like saint francis who basically said that it's not what you say but how you act that preaches to people. and this pope certainly seems to walk the walk. and that is very important to me. and then with regard to people who are called in and made judgment comments, scriptures say not to judge, if i recall

correctly. don't judge others because by the measure that you judge, you will also be judged. so i think it's rather important not to judge. and that's what the pope basically said. >> okay. ambassador nicholson. >> you're right. scripture does say that but it also provides guidance for people about how christ, through the disciples and the gospels want people to live their life and to comport their behavior to basically -- not the rule of law, the rule of the ten commandments. they're a map for people to guide them in the righteous way to live. and it's a responsibility of religious leaders and others i think to train people to do that and to help them comport their lives in that way, because

that's where i think the most peace and happiness exists is when people, you know, are following the dictates of their religious conscience if they have one or the training that i faire, but, if people do stray, they are to be forgiven. there's no question about that. if they seek forgiveness, if they're repentant. and we, if we don't forgive, we can't expect to be forgiven ourselves, and i think we're all sinners. >> ambassador nick olsholson, y will be at that joint meeting of congress? >> yes. >> one of the hottest tickets in town. >> speaker boehner invited us to be in his box and we will be there. >> are you good friends with the speaker? >> yes, i've known hem fim for

long time, sense i wince i was leader. >> has he heasked for your helpn the past? >> i think it's very personally satisfying for him. he grew up in a very large catholic family. i think his father ran a bar in ohio. the kids worked in the bar, but they also went to catholic schools, and that was a big formation of their life. and it's continued on for speaker boehner, so to have the head of the university of universal church to come to his chamber and the first time ever that a pope will have done that, that's a, in goth parparlance, that's a pretty good shot. >> he understands golf. when you were ambassador,

explain what it's like. what sort of presence do you have, influence do you have? how does it all work inside the vatican? >> that's a good question, because it's a unique post. and we've only had full diplomatic relations with the holy see since 1984. quite recent. it has been a long time, and we've been around for a couple hundred years. but because we are an important country in the world. and we catholics in this country are a big provider of material asse assistance to the vatican, we, the ambassador from here to the holy see was a pretty important post, and we have a great deal going on you know, policy wise and among international relations and defense, and economic activities, and while

it's unique in that you don't have to deal with balance of payments and current accounts, i used to say i practiced moral diplomacy, and i was able to further the interests of the united states in the things that define human dignity, such as religious freedom, trafficking in human beings, in food and starvation. i spent a great deal of my time in diplomatic currency on trying to get genetically modified food, technicalparticularly int and get the moral prime tour of the vatican behind that. because every day about 25,000 people still die, most of them young people, most of them in africa, because they don't get enough to eat. and we could feed those people if we could get that technology

in there. so those were some of the things that i worked on as a u.s. ambassador. >> all right. we'll go to sal next in massachusetts, an independent. you are on. we are waiting the arrival of pope francis to the white house on the south lawn for a welcoming ceremony there. go ahead with wyour questions, your comments or questions. >> caller: good morning. >> morning, sal. >> caller: i just want to say quickly that i'm 65 years old. i experienced, my family was very catholic. we used to go to church. it was a social thing. back then, the churches, it was said in latin. if you mentioned jesus, we bowed our heads. we couldn't eat meat on fridays. all this has changed. and i think all these things have brought me away from the church, because in my life i try to find the truth.

if there's no way consistency in something is it really real? and that's what i want to say, that that's why i got away from the church. >> ambassador? >> well, i, you know, i've been a diplomat and a businessman. i'm not a clergyman, but i think, i'm a cradle catholic. i've been a catholic since i've been born, and it's been a very important part of my life. still is, and i think the truth lies in the church. in the gospels of the church. and a lot of people that i know who have converted to catholicism have done so because they've been searching for the truth and they've found it in the catholic church. i mean, it's populated by human beings, and all of us are different. all of us have our failings, but

the gospels remain there. they've been there for 2,000 years. and i think that, that is the truth in a world of rapid change and instant communication. it's a great deal of peace and solace, because it's so foundational. it's been around so long, and it hasn't changed. and it's still there. >> our viewers are watching the scene on the south lawn of the white house, the marine band marching, making their way over to the area where they will be playing for the pope and the president. and the marine, the two leaders will be listening to the marine band play the american national anthem and the pontifical anthem. and each of them will speak briefly, expecting, i guess, the pope to speak in english for this, and is expected to also give his remarks to the joint meeting of congress also in english.

of course native spanish speaker. so we are awaiting the pope's arrival on the south lawn. he should be leaving the vatican's embassy shortly and making his way to the white house, and he'll arrive at the south portico. there's the embassy there on your screen. and we'll see what happens here in the moments that, if we're able to see him come out of those doors and get in the car and come down to the white house. what was traffic like for you getting in here this morning? >> i came in early enough that it wasn't too bad. >> making your way, many in washington making in way around road closures all over the city to, for security reasons, obviously, for the pope. maryland in dallas, a democrat, hi, maryland. >> caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have a comment. i take issue with something mr. neck olson said about capitalism being for the people. i understand the pope advocates

for the poor. and a lot of people do. but capitalism is not for the people. if it was, we would not have such a big gap economically because rich and poor. capitalism is about profits. advocating for the poor is about sharing, making sure that everybody in this country has an equal share or at least an opportunity to do better. >> all right, maryland. ambassador? >> well, we beg to differ, obviously. there is no model in the world where socialism has worked. and where the pliegt of people, the living conditions of people have improved in a socialist economy. it sounds good to some people that, you know, that all the needs of people are fulfilled and taken care of by the

government. but that just does not work. america is demonstratably successful. immigrants have come here and mixed and melded and found opportunities here to make businesses, to take risks, and the harder you work here the more successful you can be. there's really no limits to how successful you can be. and the more successful, the more businesses they start and the more jobs they create. and that's the way for people to come up out of poverty, is to have a job. not only does it provide them a place to live and provide for their family but a great deal of psychic satisfaction, of importance in their life. there's nothing like a job to do that. and it's the free enterprise

capitalism system of our country that has been the motor behind that. and we have been very successful. why do you think all the people from these other countries want to come to the united states? it's because of the opportunities that we have here. and they're here because of our constitution and our freedom, our rule of law and our economic system or economic freedom. >> later today the pope will be performing canonization for june pair row serra. you and 25,000 others who got tickets to go to that. talk about that, do you agree with his decision to make junipero serra a saint? >> he was a historic missionary, and after the appearance of our

lady of guadalupe in mexico, the conversion of mexico began and then father serra, choosing a very austere, difficult life as a frances can missionary began to move up the coast of mexico and into the western, you know, coast that's a redundancy, the western coast of california, but building missionaries and converting people to catholicism and giving them the opportunities to come and partake in the sacraments and did that at tremendous sacrifice, risk anden duri endu hardships. so i think it's very appropriate. >> by the way, the statue of father serra is in the statuary

hall in the congress and he will make a visit to that statue. he will be taking a tour and stopping there. and as we told you, expected to speak about 20 minutes or so to lawmakers in the house and the senate. but before that, today, he is getting a welcoming ceremony on the south lawn of the white house. and he will be arriving there shortly. you can see the preparations. people are getting in their places. the marine bands, color guard, the flags are hung, everybody getting in their places at the white house. and the president and the first lady will meet him on the south portico and make their way to the stage that is before the crowd there, and they will be listening to the marine band play and they both will give brief remarks. we'll have live coverage. we'll go to ted next in upper

darby, pennsylvania. a republican. hi, ted. >> caller: good morning, c-span, i watch you all the time. i keep hearing about people talking about for god and talking about abortions. my question is on the flip side of the abortions. what's god think of the in vitro fertilization where babies are created outside of the body. when we go back to the original sin of disobedience, when eve ate from the tree of knowledge, and after that happened, god said now that man has become like us we have to put death into man. what, what's the difference? >> well, i am not a three logen. i'm a layman, and i think there's a great deal of theology involved in your question, but i think what we're talking about here is, is life. and the importance and the

sanctity of a human life. and you think of the miracle of how that is, comes about and is created. and then what it results in, that is, that is something that should be protected. i think there's a natural law about that. and i think the church has been very consistent about that, and not just the catholic church. many other, tgreat faiths of th world feel the same way. it's the value of a human life that has a soul in my opinion, and it's precious and needs to be protected. >> ambassador nicholson, why are these welcoming ceremonies important? significant? are they necessary? >> they're just great festive activities. they help, in our case, our nation, express itself through our present and through that

pageantry, through the marine band. i can remember when pope benedict came to the white house. president and mrs. bush were there. they, they changed out the flowers in the rose garden and made the blooming flowers white and yellow, which are the colors of the flag of the holy see. which was a wonderful gesture. and it, you know, there are representatives and in in this case, president and mrs. obama. so they're expressing to this head of state and this great world figure, this warm welcome that we want him to feel from our people. and, it gives everybody a lift. and then the medium that you are employed in, television helps that to go out to all the people throughout our country and the world to see that and feel that. and it, it feels good. >> what impression does it give

to those outside of the united states? >> it should give them the expression of the warmth and the hospitality and the welcome that we have for this pope, for this head of the universal catholic church and that regardless of our religions and our beliefs, we think he's an important man, and we welcome him to our country and hope that he has a safe and joyous and educational time. >> is it impressive, do you think, for these heads of states? >> oh, i think it's very impressive. i mean, they are welcomed in a lot of different countries. and most countries, i think, you know, they put together pretty good color guard and band and welcome and some of them are really good in ceremonies. but none of them are as good as we are. none of them have our marine band and our armed forces color

guard. we're the best. on our next washington journal, as pope francis heads to capitol hill to address a joint meeting of congress we'll look at security prengs preparations and precautions for the judge and the topics that are likely to come up. we get under way at 6:45 eastern. and as always, we welcome your comments and calls on facebook and twitter. ♪ all persons having business before the honorable, the supreme court of the united states are add monday eamonishe near and give their attention. >> number 759. ennest miranda. >> marbury and madison is probably the most famous case

this court ever decided. >> dred and harriet existed as enslaved people here on land where slavery wasn't legally recognized. >> putting the brown effect would take presidential orders and the presence of federal troops and marshals and the courage of children. >> we wanted to pick cases that changed the direction and yes, ma'am -- import of the court in society and also changed society. >> so she told them that they'd have to have a search warrant. and, mrs. mapp demanded to see the paper and to read it and see what it was, which they refused to do, so she grabbed it out of his hand to look at it, and thereafter, the police officer handcuffed her. >> i can't imagine a better way to bring the constitution to

life than by telling the human t stories behind great supreme court cases. >> fred kormatsu boldly opposed the forced interment of japanese americans during world war ii. after being convicted of failing to report for relocation, mr. kormatsu took his case all the way to the supreme court. >> quite often in many of our most famous decisions are ones that the court took that were quite unpopular. >> if you had to peck one freedom that was the most essential to the functioning of a democracy, it has to be freedom of speech. >> let's go through a few cases that illustrate very dramatically and visually what it means to live in a society of 310 milln different people who helped stick together because they believe in a rule of law.

♪ landmark cases, an exploration of 12 historic supreme court decisions and the human stories behind them. a new series on c-span, produced in cooperation with the national constitution center, debuting monday, october 5th at 9:00. and, as a companion to our new series, landmark cases the book, it features the is cases we've selected for the series with a brief introduction into the background, highlights and impact of each case. written by tony morrow, published by c-span in cooperation with congressional quarterly press. "landmark cases", is available for $8.95, plus shipping and handling. >> get yours at c-span.org/landmark case. david petraeus testified about the conflict in syria. the retired general also apologized for sharing

classified information with his biographer paula broad well, which he later resigned over. arizona senator john mccain chairs the armed services committee. the committee will come to order. since a quorum is now