host: good morning from capitol hill on this historic day for washington, d.c. and the united states congress. in four hours, pope francis will make history will stop use of first pontiff ever to address a joint meeting of congress, house and senate lawmakers. previous hopes have been to the united states and the past to do have been an washington, d.c. at the white house. this marks the first time ever a pontiff has traveled to capitol hill to see -- speak to lawmakers. speaker john boehner invited the

pontiff who said yes. we have cameras around the perimeter of u.s. capitol and we will take you inside when the events officially get under way. it is relatively quiet. we want to give you a sense of how things are unfolding a few hours before the pope arrives. overnight, many of the security barricades were put in place along the perimeter. this is being called a national security event, which is the highest level of protection with the vatican security, secret service, capitol police, d.c. police, homeland security, and the intelligence community protecting the pope. the vatican site pope francis is an early riser, often up at 4:00 or 5:00 a.m., so we can presume he is away, just a few miles from where we are located on massachusetts avenue. it is drug across the street from the vice president's residence, in area and northwest washington, d.c. known as embassy row. let's take a look at the morning schedule as the pope is scheduled to arrive shortly after 9:00 a.m. eastern time, 6:00 for those of you on the

west coast. the now familiar fiat will arrive on capitol hill and greeted by the speaker of the house john boehner who is also catholic. then at 9:45 this morning, the house will gavel in. today's event will have a look and feel of the state of the union address with the vice president in the speaker reading the names of the escort committee, the cheese -- john roberts, one of a number of supreme court justices who are catholic, will enter the chamber at about 9:53 a.m. eastern time and then one minute past 10:00, the house sergeant of arms will announce the pope of the holy see. after his remarks, we're told scheduled to go about 40 to 50 minutes, the pope will visit statuary hall. yesterday, the catholic church on the campus of catholic university. then the pope will meet briefly with members of the house and

senate leadership. the ticket inside the house chamber is the most sought after ticket. each member of congress allowed to bring one guest. thousands lined the west front of the was capital or the pope assembled.o those yesterday he traveled from his residence to the white house for what was a state arrivals are monday by the president. it was a day of pageantry. here is how a double it on the south lawn of the white house as a president and first lady welcomed pope francis. [cheers and applause]

[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the national anthem of the holy sea followed by the national anthem of the united states. >> present arms.

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{the national anthem]

[applause]

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>> present arms. mr. president, this concludes the honors.

>> good morning. [applause] what a beautiful day the lord has made. holy father, on behalf of

michelle and myself, welcome to the white house. [applause] i should explain our backyard is not typically this crowded. but the size and the spirit of today's gathering is just a small reflection of the deep and -- devotion of some 70 million american catholics. [applause] it reflects well the message of love, hope has inspired so many people across our nation and around the world, so on behalf of the mecca and people it is my great honor and privilege to welcome you to the united states of america.

[applause] today we mark many firsts. your holiness, you have been celebrated as the first pope from the americas. [applause] this is your first visit to the united states. [applause] and you are also the first pontiff to share in encyclical through a twitter account. [laughter] holy father, your visit not only allows us in some small way to reciprocate the extraordinary hospitality that you extended to meet the vatican last year, it also reveals how much all americans from every background and every faith value the role

that the catholic church plays in strengthening america. [applause] for my time working in impoverished neighborhoods with the catholic church in chicago to my travels as president, i have seen firsthand how every single day catholic communities, laity are feeding the hungry, healing the sick, sheltering the homeless, educating our children, and fortifying the faith that sustains so many. and what is true in america is true around the world, from the busy streets of buenos aires to the villages in kenya, catholic

organizations serve the poor, minister to prisoners, build schools, build homes, operate , andnages and hospitals just as the church has stood with those struggling to break the chains of poverty, the church so often has given voice and hope to those seeking to break the chains of violence and oppression. believe the excitement around your visit, holy father, must be attributed not only to your role as pope, but to your unique qualities as a person. [applause] in your humility, your embrace of simplicity and the gentleness

of your words and the generosity of your spirit, we see a living example of jesus' teachings, a leader whose moral authority comes not just through words, but also through deeds. [applause] you call on all of us, catholic and non-catholic alike, to put the least of these at the center of our concerns. you remind us that in the eyes of god, our measure as individuals and our measure as a society is not determined by wealth or power or station or weebrity, but by how well lift up the poor and the marginalized. [applause]

to stand up for justice and against inequality, to ensure that every human being is able to live in dignity because we're all made in the image of god. [applause] you remind us that the lord's most powerful message is mercy. and that means welcoming the stranger with empathy and the truly open heart. [applause] refugee who flees war-torn lands to the immigrant who leaves home in search of a better life. [applause] it means showing compassion and love for the marginalized and the outcast, for those who have

suffered and those who have caused suffering and seek redemption. you remind us of the cost of war, particularly, on the , andless and defenseless urges toward the imperative of peace. [applause] holy father, we are grateful for your invaluable support of our new beginning with the cuban people, which holds out the promise -- [applause] promise of out the better relations between our cooperationreater across our hemisphere, and a better life for the cuban people . we thank you for your passionate voice against the deadly conflicts that ravaged the lives of so many men, women, and children, and your call for nations to resist the sirens of

war and resolve disputes through diplomacy. remind us that people are only truly free when they can practice their faith freely. [applause] here in the united states, we cherish religious liberties. much ofhe basis for so what brought us together. and here in the united states, we cherish our religious liberty, but around the world at this very moment, children of god, including christians, are targeted and even killed because of their faith. believers are prevented from gathering at their places of worship, the faithful are imprisoned, and churches are destroyed. so we stand with you in defense

of religious freedom and interfaith dialogue, knowing that people everywhere must be able to live out their fate free from fear and free from intimidation. [applause] and, holy father, you remind us that we have a sacred obligation to protect our planet, got magnificent gift to us -- god's magnificent gift to us. [applause] on allort your call world leaders to support the communities most vulnerable to changing climates and to come together to preserve our precious world for future generations. [applause] your holiness, your words and

deeds, you set a profound moral example. and in these gentle but firm reminders of our obligations to , you'reto one another shaking us out of our complacency. all of us may at times experience discomfort when we contemplate the distance between how we lead our daily lives and what we know to be true, what we know to be right. but i believe such discomfort is a blessing, for he points to something better. you shake our conscience from slumber, you call on us to rejoice in good news and give us confidence that we can come together in humility and service and pursue a world that is more loving, more just, and more free. here at home and around the world, may our generation heed

your call and never remain on the sidelines of this march of living hope. for that great gift of hope, holy father, we thank you and welcome you with joy and gratitude to the united states of america. [applause] >> good morning.

president, i am deeply grateful for your welcome in the name of all americans. as the son of an immigrant to be a guestappy in this country, which was largely built by such families. [applause] i look forward to these days of encounter and dialogue, in which i hope to listen to and share many of the hopes and dreams of the american people.

during my visit, i will have the honor of addressing congress where i hope, as a brother of this country, to offer words of encouragement to those called to guide the nation's political in fidelity to its founding principles. i will also travel to philadelphia for the april meeting of families -- april , toing of families celebrate and support the institutions of marriage and the family at this am a critical moment in the history of our civilization. mr. president, together with

their fellow citizens, american catholics are committed to building a society which is inclusive, to and safeguarding the rights of individuals and communities, and to rejecting every form of unjust dissemination -- discrimination. [applause] with countless other people of likewise, they are concerned that efforts to build a just and was the ordered society respect their deepest and their right to religious liberty.

[applause] remains one of america's most precious possessions. and as my brothers, the united states bishops have reminded us ,ll are called to be vigilant precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it. [applause] mr. president, i find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution. [applause]

urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation. [applause] 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 about aneeded to bring sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. [applause]

such change the man's on our part a serious and responsible not only of the kind living --e 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 group of the excluded which cries out to heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities, our societies

. to use a telling phrase of the , werend martin luther king can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honor it. [applause] we know by faith that the creator does not abandon us, he sakes his for loving plan or repents of having created us. humanity has the ability to work together in building our common home. as christians inspired by this certainty, we wish to commit

ourselves to the conscience and responsible care of our common home. the words which were recently made -- the efforts which were recently made to mend broken relationships and to open new doors to cooperation within our human family alongent positive steps the path of reconciliation, justice, and freedom. i would like all men and women of good will in this great ofion to support the efforts the international community to

protect the vulnerable in our integral to stimulate and inclusive models of , so -- ent [applause] so that our brothers and sisters everywhere may know the blessings of peace and prosperity which god wills for all his children. again, ident, once andk you for your welcome, i look forward to these days in your country. god bless america! [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, from washington, d.c. [applause]

your peace you give me in time of the storm

you are the source of my strength strength of my life my hands in total praise to you amen amen amen amen amen ♪ n amen

[applause] >> honor guard, attention.

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[applause] ." host: the pomp and had your tree yesterday as the president in the first lady along with members of his welcoming pope francis and members of u.s. conversation's we are back live on capitol hill. the sun is beginning to rise. wheres a location president's are inaugurated in this will be the view the pope will see after his speech, probably around 10:50 eastern time as he waves to thousands of assembling here, many of those people already beginning to arrive.

this is a high security event, but their traveling to the security camera dollars -- perimeters. most will enter the security gates and then wait for the pope to wave to them post up the pope's motorcade will be get along massachusetts avenue. it is where he is been spending the last two nights. you will travel along pennsylvania avenue up independence avenue and literally directly in front of me or the u.s. spring court's along 1st street and then come in overthrew that way were constitution avenue as an and make his way to the house side of u.s. capitol. here's a look at the schedules. he was invited by this bigger of the house john boehner and pope francis accepting that invitation the first time ever a pontiff has been to capitol hill to address congress. it will get underway at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. their 26 catholics and u.s. senate, 50 democrats and 11 republicans. 140 catholics in the house, 70 democrats and 70 republicans. and one of those catholics

represented is not attending. he is not coming because of the pope's views on climate change. from here the pope will travel to say patrick's roman catholic church. you will depart washington, d.c. this afternoon and board an american airlines plane and head to new york city. tomorrow morning at 10:00 eastern time, he will address a joint meeting of the united nations general assembly. then he will travel to the 9/11 memorial in lord manhattan to multireligious service that will be taking place. this is the front page of "the washington post" and this is the scene inside st. matthew's cathedral yesterday where the pope traveled after he visited the president at the white house. this is the headline in "the washington post" -- in order to be here, we have the security pass to get us inside the perimeter of the ease front of u.s. capitol. other people have different passes to get on the west front or inside u.s. capitol. many others lining the streets

of washington, d.c. again today for a concept the pope stepped yesterday, he was in the pope mobile and there are three. one here, one in new york and one in philadelphia. after the pope left the white house, he traveled to st. matthew's cathedral in the pope mobile. here are a few minutes as he made that route here in washington, d.c. [cheers]

[cheers]

[cheers] [cheers]

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[cheers] >> good morning to all of you on this thursday, september 24. our live coverage of the pope's visit to the united states continuing on c-span, the third day of a six-day tour and it will be an historic one. the princes becoming the first pontiff's big before joint meeting of congress. he is expected to arrive at the capital little after 9:00 a.m. eastern time. you will meet with the speaker of the house john boehner who invited the pope and who is been trying to get the pope to come to congress for 20 years. the speech will take place at 10:01 a.m. eastern time and then after his speech, he will

be making a stop at the statue of serra. father serra becoming a saint yesterday at a mass led by the pope in washington. he will meet briefly with house and senate leadership. then he will be going to the west front lawn to way to the thousands that have been gathering. for all of that on this distort day, we want to hear from you this morning. what do you want to hear from the pope when he addresses these lawmakers? here are the phone numbers for you -- we are going to get your calls in just a minute. first, let's go to the west front lawn of the capitol were pedro is with those that authority started to file in and talk to them of why they are

gathering is morning. it was shortly after 5:15 in the morning when people started coming in, including this father from nashville, tennessee. what brings you here? >> to see the pope. >> tell us about the group your with. we're from a group of 22 students from high school in nashville, freshmen and sophomores, juniors and seniors. we just came from nashville, just got here about an hour ago where we drove 12 hours. we're here to see the pope. >> what drives you to bring the students here? what do i can do learn? >> one thing pope francis talks about a lot is encountering christ. we expect we will not only see the pope, but we will see christ in him. that is what we want to do. the kids have the experience to encounter christ through the pope. >> tell us about your impressions of pope francis, particularly as he compares to other popes.

>> one of the things, he is the pope, and -- you know, a lot of times we talk about how he is when a change. he is not changing anything. the catholic doctrine and the catholic church is not going to be changed, he is just here and showing us how to serve one another and how to love one another. >> you're probably heard the pope comments on faith and economics and climate. what is your response? >> he has to do that because he is the pope not just for the catholics and not just for the faith, but for everyone. he talks about everything. why climate changes, he talks about feeding the poor, the vulnerable. that is what the pope has to do. >> is this your first time in washington? >> know, we normally come with the kids for the march for life. >> the father is joined by the high school. they were here early. you can say hi to the folks at home. father, will there be a test on

this? >> of course. >> thank you for your time. >> you're welcome. host: folks gathering, some getting up very early. you have to have a ticket. bigger boehner tweeting this -- he will address a joint meeting of congress at 10:01 eastern time. the pope will make his way from the vatican's embassy in washington down massachusetts avenue to the capitol where he will arrive shortly after 9:00 a.m. eastern time. the house is expected to gaveling around a: 30, probably quickly go back out in preparation for the pope making his way. the senate will not be gaveling in this morning because senators will be lining up to make their

walk across the capital, through the capital to the house chamber where both house incident lawmakers will be seated for that speech this morning. it is an historic one, the first by a pontiff before this congress, and something the speaker of the house has been trying to do for 20 years. another tweet from leadership in the gop on the house side, from kevin mccarthy -- and then of course, or mcconnell on the senate side, u.s. capitol is ready for the pope, he says, with a picture. durbin, senator dick the leader in the democratic party in the minority -- those are some of the twitter reactions from leaders on capitol hill this morning as

they await the pope. we want to know from you, what do you want to hear from him this morning? dan, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. what a pleasure. i would like to comment on the humanity of the man, his interaction with the children and the little gal from los angeles was just wonderful the way he treated her. what i would like to see the holy father do is look the republican leadership in the eye and see if maybe he can touch their hearts and maybe they will listen to him instead of their wealthy donors on issues such as immigration and also climate change. in light of his remarks, his extensive remarks at the white house on climate change, this great man, maybe he can touch these people and get them to go beyond politics and look in their hearts and do the right thing for their grandchildren. thank you so much.

dan, so you want him to go a little farther than he did yesterday at the white house and talk about climate change? >> yeah, is a scientist, a great world leader, and just maybe he can reach these guys and get through the koch money in the nonsense and the denial and really look them in the eye and say, come on guys, this is real. host: dan, do you think has moral authority beyond those that are catholic? i think yes touch people of all faiths, but a lot of the leadership are catholics, and i would like him to call paul ryan in these guys it to a private meeting and say or look them in the eye and say, come on, this is ridiculous. this politics has got to stop. we have to think of our grandchildren, like he thinks of the children. what a great man. what an honor. i can't wait for his speech.

things for the opportunity. host: the two men standing behind the pope today, vice president joe biden and speaker of the house john boehner, both catholics. they will be standing behind the pope as he addresses the head of state, joint meeting of congress. he was invited by the speaker. this has been a 20 year goal of speaker boehner. he is the first pontiff to speak. and he will be addressing a congress that is nearly -- around 30% catholic, twice six catholics in the senate, 15 democrats, and 11 republicans. 140 catholics in the house and their split 70 democrats and 70 republicans. what will he say to these lawmakers? we turned all of you before that and asked, what do you want to hear from this pontiff? "wall street journal" recently noted this -- american catholics themselves are divided over global warming and to what extent humans contribute to it.

roughly 47% of catholics believe global warming is caused by human activity compared to 45% of the general public. this according to pew. partisan affiliations appear to play bigger role the religious affiliations. to knees, north carolina, a democrat. you're on the air. what do you want to hear from pope francis today? caller: i would like to your the pope to express that we're all humans and we are one family. we should not divide each other like we do. can we all work together for the human family? and that is what i would like to hear >> host: on what issues would you like to hear these lawmakers come together? that the pope can speak about. caller: on the issues of

humanity itself, we have so much poverty here in the united states. we have poverty all over the world, but we have a lot of poverty here. if there representing us as humans, why can't we help ourselves? why can't we be kind to one another? we show so much on our television and through media, so much what happens to the positive humans. there are positive things in the than such negativity. host: an independent in michigan. good morning to you. morning to you. thank you. host: what do you want to hear francis today? caller: well, i like what pope they were asking him before like, what are you going to say, what are you going

to talk about? he said i'm going to let the i should l me what talk about. it just so happened he prayed on and it was a little bit about overall he ing but was just telling us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves best we can the especially we're approaching the mercy where we're asking forgiven for whatever sins we committed and in the catholic church we're seen as irrevocable and gay marriage. this is the year to love our we love ourself. if we do that we can't fail. capitol sun is up on hill and you can see the folks filing in to get a glimpse of pope. after he addresses congress for 30 to 40 minutes, we'll see how

talks, in english by the way, he'll then make his way out speaker's balcony and face the west front lawn of the and wave to the folks. jumbotron so they can hear and watch the speech nd you at home we'll be bringing you that coverage as well and then getting your heard from what you the pope after. right now what do you want to he is om pope francis as making his preparations to come o capitol hill later this morning. she'li republican. caller: good morning. i would like to hear the pope woman down in kentucky kraoezer what is his. she's not going to hurt herself god's eyes i don't believe if

take and give the marriage license out because law doing what the requires not what she requires. that's all i have to say. okay, shelia, we'll go to hawaii. doug, democrat. doug.arly morning to you, >> thanks for taking my call. yeah, my thinking is mostly speak g to of world hunger and also climate and also this is going to -- elate mostly with the e'll speak about those things, we have a big summit on the 24th nd 25th and they'll address climate change and world hunger and they're looking to cut world 2030. by i think that's part of what the going to try to see the people here in america to look

hunger and equality and class america and middle class societies around the world back to a base. that's what i feel he's going to talk about. okay. all right. kathy, an independent. hi, kathy. caller: hi. i would love to say to the pope that we need him to stay alive a long time. i hope they get him a personal trainer. puffing, but g and i was also calling -- i was very a woman who called from west virginia and made some emark about him being the antichrist. you so upset all day, but know what, as the day evolved i other cheekturn the as jesus said and i'm not very spiritual and i say to that woman in west

peace be with you. catholic, i love lighting candles for the have to sayls but i between 9 and 19 i started rebelling. i often found people in the pews nice, some weren't of them and that we had to sins even our trivial thing. grown-up now and i'm so excited to see all the young people and enthusiasm. he is a political leader. over sovereign place, the vatican. guards, swift ve guards. he's a sovereign state so it is opinion, he give his but he's coming as a spiritual for the world to say let's get together and let's get

work.and let's make this host: all right. caller: i guess that's the short of it. host: all right. front page of the newspaper note what he had to on his erday welcoming -- at his welcoming white house.he "the new york times" hopes the pastoral and political. they note no one was more obama whoan president greeted him where the people mbraced -- where the pope embraced the administrative's change.to combat climate the first pope from latin to ica pressed for openness immigrants marking his day for in the united states. saw the nuns at the missions

of the poor. the federal government mandate.birth control the front page of the washington prayer, headline on politics and passion is how they his first remarks in washington yesterday. pope francis becoming the third visit washington, the fourth to visit the states, but he will be a joint meeting of congress today and are gathering to hear what he has to say on the west front lawn and is where c-span's pedro echeverria is to talk to folks. >> and some of those folks and kathy crouse from chicago of the you can watch this event in chicago. why come to d.c.? >> have to be here in person, have to see him. away he is. how far >> are you here today or been

ere for other days? >> we've been here since monday. >> tell us your impressions of pope? >> love the pope. think he is so warm and welcoming to everybody of all the catholict just faith and i think he's trying to e that way and get more catholics back to church also attitude.use of his >> your thought on this pope andus other popes, benedict john paul. >> i think the other popes were just the pope. they were head of the catholic and they ran the church. his pope is a world leader and inspiration to everybody. >> do you think this pope is political in nature? yes. think theat's okay. i world needs a leader to be more and speak out. just need hey

somebody to lead them in the right direction. >> what do you think? >> i agree. is political.pe is whole idea about climate change and what is happening and i think he is forward thinking, need to leave e to our children of the next generation but something that to be really addressed and fixed right now. home re asking folks at about what they want the pope to and what you s would want? >> i'm not sure. probably say, get together and let's work together oth sides of the aisle and really getting in done. say, get what i would your act together, guys. aybe he will inspire enough of them that they'll think about doing things in a leadership role. kathy crouse coming to us from chicago, illinois.

you very much. host: some of the people who who is very early hearing what the pope has to say. preparing for s make -- first speech by a pontiff before a joint meeting of congress and around 30,000. 50,000 tickets made on the 00 will be out west front lawn and he'll be making his way to the balcony to wave to all those people. the pope's comments yesterday were focused and refreshing. francis decided to come as francis, he writes. which means telling people what's on his mind. thus, the second sentence he a son n american soil as of an immigrant family, on the west front lawn and he'll be making his way to the balcony i guest which was largely built by such family. endorsing some

particular immigration bill but urging us to be proud that we're a nation of immigrants and without a single bit of preaching suggested that we ought to act that way, score one for the liberals and like particular immigration bill but it or us to be proud that not, a lot of people will be keeping score. own words pope in his yesterday at that welcoming ceremony. francis: mr. president, i'm grateful for your welcome of all americans. son of an immigrant a guest 'm happy to be was lastlyntry which families.such [applause] host: spoke yesterday at the welcoming ceremony. after that those brief remarks made by the pope and president,

40 minutes about this morning without aides. gave the pontiff a gifts, international from the gifts and key born american who was a saint. "usa today". thank you for hanging on the line. from o you want to hear the prop this morning? caller: i would like to hear in albuquerque there has a lot of molestations from and it's been very

devastating where a lot of catholics are leaving the church. my church is saint bernadette and with all the molestations even at that church, on the the alter there the crucifix and it has genitals showing of a man on christ and and it's been very devastating where a lot of catholics are leaving the church. i've tried to get something done about it and nobody will do it and i did pope and the pope never got it. certified. i was just wondering what he feels about that? well, "washington post" ith the headline victim advocates were critical of the pontiff's comments. they write, francis allowed the criticism and f he cost of mortification and great sacrifice but wasn't the answer. they criticized francis for offering comfort and sympathy to praising s and bravery. not clear whether he'll address

with andal again or meet survivors during his visit which will include stops in new york philadelphia where he meeting ess the global of issues. u.s. officials say they would meet with survivors but reluctant to get specifics. we're getting your u.s. officia they would meet thoughts this on the pontiff's speech a joint meeting of congress. what do you want to say to these lawmakers. you're next, roy. the poped like to hear ask or request that the spinescan party get some and stop the lawlessness in the white house. like to hear substantiveask more

questions than the ones that that poke and asked at ress conference with the reverend. host: charles good morning to you. air.re on the >> good morning. the subject i would like to hear speak on is the marriage issue and doing what the bible speaks in kentucky. would like for him to speak on is the same thing the gentleman just spoke on about in massachusetts. >> all right. eric in california, an independent. morning to you. >> good morning, america. yes, i would like the pope to the great jubilee mercy thatiencing of the united states and the world needs to come together and unify

the family. the pope is celebrating the family of america. family to canonize the and not just within individualment it was the family that built america and we're texas. about the lady in the pope was also -- we all need o recognize the mistakes we're making in the churches. even as i watch in cuba, it's when you put two individuals, killers in a church service.church those pictures should have come down. growing because we're and we all got to learn to work together. the g out of compton, keep family church. keeping family church. what i like the pope to talk about. host: on your screen is the view pope will see as he waves to crowds. each member of congress got one ticket. they were able to distribute tickets for those who

front lawn g on the and they got out early to make their way to the capitol. the security is tight and considered a national security event. many of the agencies are coordinating security along with the pope's own security. lawmakers be like inside the chamber? they are promising good behavior. that's the headline on the website and per they say the state department is outlining guidance. hand shake is considered acceptable but only if the pope initiates. lawmakers will have to hold back embracing from francis like they might do with the president at the state of the union address. state department further advis attendees to dress appropriately. the dress code guidance is especially noteworthy for

congress for whom speaker john boehner has admonished for not dressing appropriately for votes. nonetheless, members of congress say they are eager to be part of audience. again, this is the pontiff is at cted to speak 10:01:00 a.m. eastern time and leaves that after he the vatican's embassy and across vice reet from the resident's residence here on embassy row. many have their homes along this street. as we saw yesterday, he exited from the doors on the left hand and instead of immediately getting into that ow very visible fiat he made his way over to the crowds that shook many and people's hands before making his way into the fiat in the motorcade. today he'll be making his way to the capital and he's expected to

around 9:20 a.m. eastern time and met by the speaker of the house and others. have a private meeting with the speaker who has been rying to get a pope to speak before lawmakers when he was a rank in file member. speaker foley and speaker foley asked and sepbgt not nvitation and was accepted and in 2014 he made the nvitation to this pope and he learned that this pope said yes. davis it to the united states began and pope down in ouching washington tuesday, at the white house yesterday. today.e before congress after that speech he'll leave the capitol grounds and he'll his way to st. patrick's church which is one of the ldest parishes and later today he'll make his way to new york on american airlines flight. there for a speech to

assembly on eral friday and saturday and sunday he'll be in philadelphia. before that, your thoughts on ope francis's speech to lawmakers. an independent, you're on the air. caller: good morning. c-span.u for would like to hear the pope xplain further about serra's canonization as an american. i don't believe we're hearing and hear him explain how the catholic church role in my their destruction in the past. because the catholic -- i'm sorry? to?: what are you referring are you referring to the serra? ry, father caller: not specifically the missionaries, but the european the spanish that were here in the name of the

hurch and in the name of the king and the queen and help the inca, aztecs and maya. there is one story from the last inca king, he was given a book bible and did not understand and his army was just decimated and threw the bible and later exhorted for gold destroyed. and actual was done by an and a bunch of soldiers. host: well, the canonization of father serra has been controversial. is. a look at who he francis can thee lowin. with the spanish conquistadors. the pope will stop there after he gives the speech to congress. the california governor saying on statue will remain

capitol hill. he's a native american group say deserving is not ecause missions use corporal punishment. the pope apologized for the maintains he he protected them against settlers and soldiers. your thoughts ahead of pope francis's visit to and a speech before a joint meeting of congress. it will be treated like a state union address. he'll come down that center aisle and be announced by the officials and he'll make his way down. he's expected to give the speech 10:01 eastern time and as we said, people are pouring on capitol grounds to get a glimpse of him and hear what he has to say. echeverria is out there. were on the

capitol lawn this is the sight see. you you'd also be joined by several thousand including two students joseph's central high school in massachusetts. we are talking to? theresa and olivia. to witness such a historic event and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. >> yeah, same. i'm really excited to see the ope because he's such an influential political figure. he also influences government as well. ?> you're okay with that >> i think it's also important influence government because he's the leader of so many people. have something to do with their government and economy. >> what impresses you about pope francis? relatable. i feel comfortable.

he tries to understand youth and that. >> this comes at a time where and e leaving the church faith overall. what do you think about that and what do you think about the pope's influence? >> i think he tries to welcome people back and make them feel good about themselves and not necessarily like beat them over the head with their sins or anything, but just know that the church is there if they're ready to come back. yeah, i think he feels and wha about the pope's influence? >> i think he tries to welcome very back and make them feel accepting towards people who aren't necessarily socially acceptable. i think he accepts all people, even though they might have perfect. not i think he really emphasizes the un-one is loved by god. >> you said during your time in washington you had a chance to congress? >> yes, that was pretty cool. we met with him in springfield and not in washington. that with you a couple of days ago. but he was a nice guy and very congenial. >> talk about the pope's address to congress.

what would you like him to say? like him to say but i'm ng a good job, ot sure what he's going to say and i'm not sure what i want him to say yet. on what you ts would like him to say? >> i think like theresa i'd like time to say we're doing a good job but he's also been political of governments in the past. i think we have a couple of things we could be critical about. we might not like what he has to say. >> on what you would like him to say? this is olivia and theresa from st. joseph's from massachusetts. thanks for your time. host: the popularity of pope francis, 59% favorable rating in july. that's down from 76%. a ng catholics 71% had favorable rating but that is of from 89% in february 2014.

what impact will pope francis ave on the law makes he's talking to today? what about the two that will be standing behind him. reporting gton post" the visit come as they name biden and boehner face pivotal moments. the two men behind him could be he visit come as forgiven if they sought their own papal blessing. two of the most prominent catholics in washington, the papal visit comes at a time when each faces major decisions about the course of their political future. he must decide whether to launch a last minute bid despite in the polls and while profound grief. get the ust somehow house to go with a funding bill federalee another risky shut down. biden's advisors have wavered on timing of the decision but many say it must

come by early october to give of winning.chance the deadline is much more government funding expires. that follows is more open ended. so government shut down faces -- that is the question that is facing the speaker of the for pope e gets ready francis to make his way to capitol hill this morning. getting ee the folks off the metro. members of the media, politico that's the thousand there.en t-shirt there and people are marks, t-shirts, book ll sorts of things during this visit to the united states. florida.to newport, what do you want to hear from his pope caller: i want pope francis to

jesus's divine mercy he loves us all. and about forgiveness. that's the most thing.ant we're his creation and how much us.oves and basically that none of us -- not given up to anyone to make a judgment. okay. los angeles, california, a republican you're on the air. morning, greta. thank you for c-span. host: good morning. gee, how do we follow up a kid that was pretty cute. host: they were great. also to the lady that just called. want to hear the pope talk about non political issues if it

that's even possible as a man of god and he's on a mission of god. who is tician you asked going to be listening and focused, none of them. really sad and not what our have envisioned. trouble, butin deep i think the pope is sickened to be standing there in front of politicians. it's not really a place where he feels comfortable. the els comfortable on streets with the people and that's what i really respect about him. why do you think he's not comfortable in front of the lawmakers? caller: well oh if he's a man of god chosen by god to be the ope, i would not feel comfortable in there. think about it. it's cians -- i mean,

the - 8,000 people on street is where he feels comfortable. but i'd like to see him -- i'd about the w more pope. i'd like to know more about the and about these very influential people around the single daylive every doing a mission, duty and purpose and cause. because a lot of people in this country have really lost. pope is just kind of -- he's like a figure. to know and understand this man has dedicated his life. to say anything greta in front of congress, i ould think border security, getting along with mexico, wage in the country and the environment. host: okay. all right. looks out into his audience inside of the house will see 26 catholics in the senate, 15

11 republicans. 140 catholics in the house, 70 republicans.d 70 but it just -- it won't be just catholics there. religious make-up of the senate and the house put "usa today". you can see the house 20 presbyterian and congressionalfrom kwrl. others and and 108 then 140 roman catholics. in the chambers will be court, of the supreme ofll street journal" and six the nine justices are catholic, the most since 1900. catholic k at the

faiths. joining us on the phone this orning is terrence gainer who is the former senate sergeant of u.s. capital police chief and national security event. mean? oes that

in the meantime what are are your thoughts on what pope say to these lawmakers. good morning. >> oh, yes, good morning. he most important issue that i t. ed to address is it 's what i see on t.v.

they will work and have worked very closely ith the law enforcement agencies involved. the metropolitan police this type of for event the senate and house and arms.nt of been going on 's as the folks l arrival. on former members

of congress will be in stat hall. along with police the secret service and house and senate sergeant of arms will make sure the flow of people is in the path that holiness will take is very hoe

secure. >> the capitol police does a weep of the building with bomb andctors and here with k-9s and thent withstanding

those areas generally will be traffic by from any anybody no matter what your may be until the event starts. routesill be alternative within the building and to get the oliness to the capitol same way there is when the president comes up there. so there are a lot of has natives that everybody worked there and a lot of work that goes, weeks and days and ahead of this. sergeant at ormer arms and police chief, what today?o those folks play >> well, the senate and sergeant of arms along with the architect of the capitol, those are the of ting party for any head state. so, the specific thing they'll involved in the

arrival of his holiness in scorting him to the various in the capitol they'll escort him when the president comes in for the inauguration of the center aisle of the house chamber. but that's the ceremonial, picture moment. the house and senate sergeant of for are responsible jointly the security in the building. his men and woman, they'll be in constant contact with the service ands secret the vatican's security people. someone entersen

the capitol building, they're under the responsibility and capitol police who work in conjunction with any partners it will be very strong and they'll have worked all these alternatives and how to get them in and how to get them out and what to emergency and think through every contingency always keeping in mind the capitol center of the bubble. video of the path the pope will be taking. s you said in the past you've played that saeur moanious role of escorting the people through capitol. what's the protocol there? >> it was always very interesting the day-to-day

details of leading a large agency and coordinating with the capitol police it's obviously a big honor. whether it's the head of state had a president, you chance to chitchat with the person you were with. in this case, i imagine there be a little bit more -- rained concentration a little of and that will depend on his holiness's attitude. the all when i escorted ca dalai lama, he was very outgoing and held my hand most of the chatted about a number of things about my children or grandchildren. strike up a different relationship depending on what the person you're escorting is doing. on your main job is keep schedule. movement continues and you

can see how important that is especially like at the state of because the members out. talk about the

coordination that has to occur pope's the vatican and own security and security in the country? has a leadet service on that. director clancy, he and his top went over and observed what was going on in the security and the vatican and the pope moved around in his pope mobile there. good sense of how the vatican security operates. way we would do is pre there coordination and security. then the people who lead the pope's detail would have come up to the capitol, sat down and talked with the protocol offices as well use and senate

as the secret surface and capitol police. he secret service has a half dozen people assigned permanently assigned to the capitol. so they secret service and the capitol police and the sergeant arms office worked his one unit and know the flow and the embers and know what is expected and they would. >> any special percussions now this pope given the security environment that we're in with isis and other

terrorist threats? challenge of the united states secret service and the capitol police and the police is the constant vigilance. how many large events and important people who come to the absent something very, very specific as to that articular visitor, the protocols are in a -- are at the be.est level that they can be snisnipers and counter snipers the same that there are movement of the president of the nited states through washington, d.c., but i think it's clear at this moment i know no specific threats, so they are ever ready. and that's always a challenge the men and woman of those various agencies or the very, hip to keep you ery vigilant 24/7 and

especially in those hours that his holiness is on the hill. isis -- most security other ists would think than at the white house in addition to the white house that secure bably the most environment you could have is at the capitol. how i was going to ask, oes washington, d.c. and security here and trying to get somebody like the pope around city, how does it make it washington, der in d.c.? >> i think it's a bit easier in we're ton, d.c. because so practiced at it which is not in ay that commissioners philadelphia aren't adept at this. does make it a little bit easier. slight nk we have a

advantage that way. obviously new york with a large police had the ability to move a lot of police around quicker. when you know what the route will be or alternative routes are, whether it's philadelphia, or chicago, then the same.lan is very much the polie you're screening on the ground of those routes and securing the underground access to a street. you've made sure that the that his holiness will pass are secure and you'll have muches to keep an eye out and eyes in the sky whether it's helicopters who have the look and see. you're doing all those things while the intelligence partners monitoring what's going on rooms or media or chat anyplace else the same way in 're doing 24 hours a day

washington or new york or other cities. in the pack on ground is really not visible to public, but for a visit of his holiness or head of state eyes and ears attuned for key words or phrases or eople that you know of think might have an axe to grind gainst that particular person and you're focusing on some of that without losing the big constantly trying to understand what's going on in surroundings. host: we appreciate the sight. thank you for your time. you.er: thank host: the police have been preparing for the security and preparing for weeks and months to move people around this historic day as we await for the pope's arrival for the meeting of oint congress and there have been tickets distributed by the could be asfice and

high as 30,000 or more people the ng to listen to what pope has to say and get a limpse of him when he waves to the crowd after his speech before congress. pedro echeverria is talking to folks.f the >> some of those people have traveled across the nation to be today. district outside the of columbia. good morning, ladies. >> good morning, sir. tell us about what drove you to be out here so early? francis obviously. he's so humble -- looks like we lost our connection there out on the capitol.

housands and thousands are gathering so it could be an connectivity as many folks out there probable we their cell phones and other devices hoping to capture photo pontiff when he comes out waves. balcony and francis was pope invited to washington, d.c. to address the world from the floor of the house. i did that d like this was the opportunity for the pope to be one of the world's religious advocates and address the current intolerance religious freedom. an opportunity to challenge government to address the execution of d christians and religious and ities and the heinous

senseless murders and the and ty to address finally an opportunity for his that is what congressman expects to hear from this pope when he addresses the congress.ing of what do you all want to hear. you from west virginia,

have been patient. thank you for that. go ahead. > well, i would say amen to what you just read. ecause united states is probably more generous than any nation in the world including vatican. i wish he would turn away from that adultery and homosexuality and taking of sin and out the that k birth rate homosexual marriage and abortion and selling of body parts will destroy this nation are that this nation has turned away from god and we need to repebt and turn back to the god of the and then i would like to hear him renounce himself and church for usurping the position of god in this world. to speak for ight god. thank you. host: all right. climate change, "the washington

a quote, god will judge you on whether you cared for earth. of his comments on climate change. from o you want to hear pope francis? caller: thank you for taking my call. like similar to his holiness it francis and immigrants one of the gifts that president obama gave to pope francis. would issue that i really like pope francis to to do with education and education of the poor. we have thoseoday

who say that the catholic church no longer afford to educate the poor. would like pope francis to wrong.hat is we all have a responsibility and i believe that comes from him. that he will e

speak about tax credits but seed.s it might plant a so someone like paul ryan or all involved. there a way to encourage private and we need to help everyone. >> as pope pushes to help the catholic united states leave them behind. collegeles leave low income students with big ebt and wealthy catholic schools don't enroll many poor students. check that out on propublica's website. good morning, karl, you're on the air. >> good morning. greta. haven't talked to you in a while.

and ot expecting too much the catholic church has got of their own.s i mean, if they clean up the church -- and the first the church did not take good's place and he's not god. he's just a guy. i'll talk to you again. host: all right. karl. on to sue in republican., iowa,

t's easier now they can accept divorce. but he 's -- it's nice represents the bible and represents god and he should be prayer about getting back into schools. t i guess that's basically he needs to talk more about god world.e does about the >> as we watch as these last minute preparations are underway can see the media has their where the capitol

they're allowed to be with the cameras. ou saw the police officers reparing folks

he'll visit aol statue of father serra and meeting with house and senate leadership. after that he'll make his way to the balcony and wave to the gathered on t have lawn.est front

the state you earlier department giving out guidelines on what they should address and be wearing and that includes a tie and jacket in the to be wearing note chamber and darknot for td be reaching out their hands. for handshakes with the pope unless the pope initiates it. that is from the state department as well. watched coverage of the pope's ceremony at the white house. he was there and gave brief remarks in english. that is not his native language. he speaks mostly in spanish. and after those brief remarks in english, he met with the president behind closed doors. his death. behindn you saw them --

closed doors. the president, shortly after they came out of those doors, many of you probably saw a man mark miles, he came up behind the pope and you probably saw him whispering behind the pope. you are probably wondering who that is. that is the pope's translator. ubiquitous with the pope for this trip. english is not enabling which. he will be getting 18 speeches. 18 addresses. speeches that the pope is expected to deliver during his six-day visit. only for will be in english. although the vatican said english will be used in some cases, it is more than likely as the philippines, the pope will translator, on his mr. miles to trend his spanish into english. this was his immediate

predecessor for the high profile polyglot. benedict, the pope is said to have been fluent in five languages, as well as practical latin. francis is more body -- moderate linguistic leanings with immigrant family members. he is fluent in german, french, and portuguese. in english.pable many observers noting this yesterday after his speech at the white house, that his english has improved greatly. he said he has been practicing over the summer for his visit here. lewis, and florida, a democrat. what do you want to hear? the pope will make his way to the capital in two hours. -- first, iike to would start by saying thank you for taking my call.

i am hoping that since the holy father came to our country that he will give us a great blessing, and unite everyone together. hoping that he speaks very strongly to our congress, and to our president. to encourage them to do the moral and righteous things to do for our country, and our citizens in the country. and try to make amends with other countries to bring everyone together as a whole. hopefully, something good will come out of this. most of the people in our country and other countries are fearing that bad things will happen. people in this country, and our country here, are fearing the same as well. justl feel like it is

something bad is going to happen one day. we do not want that to happen. we just want things to run smoothly in this country. hoping that his powerful us.s will do something for i hope they will give us hope and happiness. that way we could move on with our lives. we can enjoy the lives we are supposed to enjoy that god created for us. i am grateful that he came to our country. i'm grateful that he came to speak about the importance of things that we need to discuss to have our congress and our leaders, and our government -- to unite everybody once again, and bring happiness and hope. host: ok thank you. we'll go to erica. >> what i would like for the

pope to speak about is the original sins of this country that we had slavery. and the reparations. the united states, the people in the united states have never actually repaired this great sin. they felt like it was justified under law. also, i would like him to speak about the bible. the bible speaks about how hard it will be for the rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven. this is what it says. it's as it will be easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle, than it will be for a rich me to get into the kingdom of heaven. today, they you see rich people do not want to pay taxes. they demonize the poor. the day, the lesbian, the blacks. the hispanics. how these people, like senator paul ryan, they want to criticize the safety net. they were on the safety net. him and his father. i saw the 60 minutes of mitt

romney's mother when she was speaking about how the way were on welfare. given, much is expected. host: we will even at that. christine in jamaica, new york. a democrat. caller: i would like the pope to address something, do unto others as you have others do unto you. and i think this would be a type of litmus test before we shoot to kill people when they make an error. and, i think we should consider separating family members and immigration issues. i think if we paid attention to what we did, then that would be considerate. you can only drive one car at a time. you need to negotiate rather than exterminate people. that can bething

thought of globally when you're considered doing unto others as you would have others do unto you. host: thank you. as we told you earlier catholics make up 31% of this 114th congress. overall, catholics in america there are 71 million. that is about 25 percent of the u.s. population. an 8% of the 1.2 billion catholics worldwide. is 3 million fewer than there were in 2007. 23.9 percent of catholics made up the population in 2007. it is now at 20.8%. americans call themselves former catholics. for every convert, six leave the church. this is relatively stable compared to other religions. those facts are according to the new york times. ,oting in the papers recently that if a former catholics and ask catholics formed their own church, they would have the

second largest church. here is the chaplain of the house, with his speech this morning. early morning at the capital you can see the pictures that the chaplain has taken outside in the senate. the chaplain of the senate has taken them outside of his window. that is a perspective there for those who work inside the capital every day. marie, in st. petersburg, florida. hello. caller: hello, good morning. espned be to god that see -- that c-span has had the courage to broadcast the pope's event. thank you for being an anchor to this. what i would like to see the pope speak about, and more about, is to bring back to the gather and unite all countries together. ast we should not see anyone

immigrant anywhere. because truly come this world belongs to god. and to also address that we should counsel more on the marriages, and then to make it so easy for people to get divorced. , andr than for families bringing back families and the true value of families. and to bring back the facts of the bible. that we are all one in christ. -- that's be michael what i would like to's -- to see him speak more. host: your point about divorce, you know the pope made a recent announcement on annulment. he said annulment changes could have a big impact on the united states according to a recent usa today article. five point 8 million -- this is number of merit american catholics have been divorced -- 5.8 million married american catholics have been divorced.

take a look at the numbers there compared to other countries. we had to pennsylvania, bob a democrat. hello. host: hello. i have been listening to your show. i wish the pope would start addressing some of the things like the school prayer. when they eliminated it. we need to confront as many nations, the isis problem. i would hope that he would bring up the subject of planned parenthood, and how it is impacting society. in the movement that we made in this country. this is all caring the fabric of this nation. and i do not think he needs to bring up global warming. he is supposed to bring a biblical message. he is a stalwart of the sanctity of life. host: our viewers were just seen kathleenr secretary

making her way to her seat on the capitol grounds. she was a catholic. negotiations with some religious figures along with vice president joe biden. when they were negotiating a contraceptive part of obama care , along with vice president joe biden and other catholics, who will be standing behind the pope today would he addresses that joint meeting of congress. as well as the speaker of the .ouse john boehner a catholic who attended mass today. he has gone every day as a child. of getting year goal the pope to address congress. we will talk more about that, joining us on the phone editor-in-chief of the hill newspaper. we will talk first about the the capital on this historic day. the first to do so. yes, the word historic is used a lot.

it is overused. this truly is a story. this of the first ever address to congress by a's pope -- by a pope. on thel a lot of people national lawn, tens of thousands of people. be interesting to see what the global say, how lawmakers will interact with the pope. we have been talking to members of congress over the last few weeks. that,lly, the hope is this does not become a state of the union address type of speech. it is politics is mentioned, political issues are mentioned, that one side is not standing up, that is there is a lot more to corn. host: and have lawmakers said they will abide by those guidelines? to meetes, they do want the pope. there is no doubt about it. i think one of the guidelines you need to watch is that, lawmakers have been told in a protocol memo, listen we do not

want to delay the pope. he is on a very tight schedule. please, do not come in the , it takesle, do not forever for the president to go to the podium. they do not want that situation with the pope. state department protocol is but you can shake his hand, only if the pope extends his hand first. -- i do not know if lawmakers will be able to do that. democrat from illinois, he said he does not come to the state of the union until later in the speech, because it is so crowded and a mob scene. he said for this speech he will get there very early. host: what are these lawmakers expect in a will hear from the pope? guest: that is the big question of the day. there are many issues that he could address. they involve politics. one of them is the refugee

crisis. another is immigration reform. abortion, of course. ,hat could be an issue republicans have been pushing the defunding planned parenthood. certainly, the pope if he addresses any of these issues, he will not be getting into the details that lawmakers do. but even passing references to them will be closely monitored. isgressman paul gosar boycotting the speech, because of what he perceives as the pope's left is -- leftward leaning tendencies. a couple of weeks ago, he said talking about the church and church doctrine. i am not a liberal. that is what he said. that is why, what exactly the pope says is going to be the biggest story, i think, of the day. he gets into politics -- he certainly did get into politics yesterday the white house with president obama.

they were talking about climate change, in particular. presidentck by how obama was beaming alongside the pope. one of our headlines is the pope and obama are all smiles at the white house. so, we saw some politics, certainly on climate change. and the question is will we see more today? host: perhaps he made his diplomatic overture to the white house since he asked the president what might he say to the lawmakers when he is in the house chamber, addressing both house and senate lawmakers. he has been vocal on foreign policy as well. relations to cuba, the a ron deal -- the iran deal. do you expect them to talk about that? guest: he has mentioned that he will not talk about cuba, he was heavily involved in the improving of the relationship between the united states and cuba. i do not think he will talk about iran.

you never know. he wills -- he will speak with speaker boehner. he asked for a private one-on-one, because he is catholic. it will be interesting to see what's boehner said the pope told him in that meeting. andpolitics of catholicism the pope has changed over the years. especially with this pope. wereprior popes, democrats really on the defensive with the politics of abortion, and whether they should receive communion because of their stance on abortion. now, democrats really like this pope. they like what he has to say. they like his boldness. they like his comments on all of those things, iran, cuba, immigration reform. including climate change. the church has not changed its position on abortion, but he has been less vocal on abortion than his predecessors. host: there are 26 catholics in

the senate. 15 democrats, a love and republicans. it is evenly split in a house. 70 democrats, 70 republicans. -- 11 republicans. what is this legislation? guest: this was legislation in the last congress. this was a measure that was introduced by congressman john larson as well as from peter kane. congratulateon to the pope on being named pope. basically, it was a noncontroversial resolution. it got a lot of responses. range of two dozen republicans. towards the end of the last congress, larson and kane were pressing boehner to move this. even though it had hundreds of cosponsors, it never passed

congress. it died in the last congress. toe members that we talked saw some politics, because the pope was talking about things that democrats liked that boehner do not bring up. it was not moved to a committee because of the put talk -- politics surrounding the issue. that was never voted on. host: the pope's arrival is coming up, he is expected to come over a little after 9:00. congress will be gathering around a: 30, and that it is believed that they will go out as well, to make room for last-minute preparations. make preparations in the house chamber. what was the jockey like for those tickets? guest: it is very difficult. they were very limited to

actually be in the chamber. they got a lot more for the west front of the capitol. so, that was -- there has been so much jockeying because somebody people are expected to be there. but as far as being expected to get into the chamber, the press has had limited availability. basically, it you get one person in the chamber per outlet for the most part. have 50of the house standing room tickets on the west lawn. senators actually get 200. as far as getting into the chamber, you are looking at one or two. host: bob q set, we appreciate your time. guest: thank you. host: as we told you earlier, speaker of the house john boehner who invited the pope tweeted this "it'll be quite something this morning, we have made 50,000 seats available, jumbotron's are everywhere. -- everywhere." is apicture in that tweet

from where the pope will come out on and wave to the crowd. nbc is reporting may be around 30,000 people, we are waiting to see how many actually are attending today's event up on capitol hill. if the pope will be leaving the vatican's embassy, and up on massachusetts avenue across from the vice president, there he is on your screen. you can see people are lined up as they did yesterday, hoping to not only see the pope, but have him come over and shake their hand. and talk to them as he did yesterday. he delayed at welcoming ceremony yesterday in the white house. then he did eventually get into that fiat and make his way down. he arrived at the capitol grounds, he will be welcomed by the speaker of the house and others, escorted through the capital. he will meet privately with the

speaker of the house, and then at 10:00 eastern time, if everything is running on time, he will have a joint meeting address to the house and senate lawmakers. senders, as they do, will be making their way across the capital into the house chambers. they will be hearing from pope francis for the first time at 10:01. after that, pope francis will be ,topping by the statue of sarah the now saint, who became his think yesterday. withll be meeting briefly house and senate lawmakers. later in the day, he will go to st. patrick's church year in washington, the oldest parish in washington, d c -- d.c.. he will be giving a speech at assembly in new york. on saturday and sunday he will be in philadelphia for a catholic gathering there.

pope francis is the fourth pope to come to the united states. the third to visit washington. robert, in arizona, a democrat. pope francis is the first to address lawmakers in a joint meeting of congress, what you want to hear? caller: good morning. good morning c-span. thank you for letting me speak. prove thatnt to everything is politics in the world. everything is politics. is -- this is a call in show. i call in to have my word listen to, and i would like to mention a few things about religion in contrast to spirituality. -- throughon religion you can promote spirituality coming through spirituality you can promote humanity. i believe that humanity has to

be promoted in a large scale. because if you see refugees all over the world not being able to find food, so that they have to escape and they cannot find food because either the soil is poisoned with so much war. i like to also -- the pope addressed in some detail, and a spiritual way, how this constitution was written by the inhabitants of the united states. but also as a humanity factor, this country was formed on a lot of turmoil, a lot of violence. anthem, iational don't know if it necessarily promotes violence, but you can take that as a spiritual content, if you think it does or does not.

callingwhole idea of my , is to promote the spirituality. spirituality is a private thing. i would like to have the pope, in some way, address the fact that the this phrase in the constitution says to promote the general where fair -- welfare. we are talking about the welfare of this country since it is , since the constitution was written for the inhabitants of this country. host: ok, i will leave it there to go to ohio, a democrat. linda, what you want to hear? caller: i would like to hear the pope speak on the fact that everybody should be able to practice their own religion in the united states, and worldwide. i do not think any laws should be passed to stop them. they have their way of worshiping the lord.

he should speak on schools, and federal buildings being allowed to bring the bible back into the schools for our younger generations. host: all right. eileen, in illinois, an independent color. caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. what i briefly wanted to establish in listening to others are saying, is that i would like him to point out that he is not promoting any type of politics. that he is promoting his faith. his love for people. his hope for everyone's future. but he was also interested in saving people now. dealing with what is going on with climate change now, dealing with people having to make decisions about abortion. now, i would like to hear him speak on people not living in fear. that he is saying, is

does not give people the spirit of fear, but of a sound mind to make good decisions. you can mock -- you cannot make good decisions if you're living in fear. everything that is promoted with the american population is based on fear and paranoia. we cannot make decisions. also, i really appreciate how he notmade his concession -- really a concession, but an understanding that people who may have an abortion -- not promoting abortion, but if they have an abortion -- people do not have an abortion for no reason, they put a lot of thought into it. they go through a lot of but forl stress, catholics, and for people of a religious background, they need to know that there is the forgiveness of god. therefore, he is promoting, he

knows that god forgives them if their heart is right. immigration,r as treating people who are not from this country correctly. where you treat the least of these as you would treat yourself. there is a specific word about that. inre are a lot of people this country who claim to be of the christian faith, they came to be -- they claim to be catholic, they claim to be a ligious -- that is a whole mother problem. host: irene with her thoughts on what she was to hear from pope francis. the house will gavel in shortly. you saw the suv's unloading. it looks like a lot of leadership in the house and others. the house will be gaveling in. the speaker is expected to be at the podium with the gavel. they will do so briefly.

a journey until the chamber is ready to hear from the pope. the first pontiff to address a joint meeting of congress. lawmakers will file in. of senate, the other side the chamber, is not in session this morning. senators will be lining up, and they will be walking across -- as they do for the state of the union. they will sit down and listen to what this pope has to say. what he will say is the question. heree will be listening and showing all of you our coverage will continue. it will continue after the speech, we will have more of your thoughts and your comments on what pope francis has to say to lawmakers as they gather in that chamber to hear from him at 10:01 a.m. eastern time. you can see a motorcade approached me capital now. leaving the will be embassy, the vatican's embassy in washington, and making his way down.

we will stop here. we will pick up later. we will have your thoughts, live coverage of pope francis is visit to the united states and address to congress, here on c-span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

host: a spectacular weather day. david is with us, senior editor. david, you have seen that lots

of these big events over the years. guest: i have been around for a while. i have seen many, many states of the unions. a lot of speeches by foreign leaders. and this is all of those things rolled into one. it has the pageantry and the open years of -- ears of an aaugural state visit and state of the union all rolled into one. so it is unique. it really is unique. host: and what makes it unique. what are the special qualities? guest: i think he is the leader of the world's -- one of the world's plurality religions. and he has a moral force that comes with the territory, comes with the job.

there have been national leaders, there have been kings, queens, prime minister's. never before has there been a spiritual leader like this come in. i think both parties -- it is one of the rare moments where both parties are asking for something of a political speech, that they are hoping it can be both political and transcendent at the same time. host: this is what your newspaper looks like this morning. shyashington, pope doesn't from issues or crowds. boehner struggles to navigate shutdown as leadership coups bruise. we have heard many times that this is a 20 year attempt by speaker boehner to get a visit by a pope. he is successful not a time when he is facing some extraordinary challenges.

will this help them? guest: i don't know. i think there has been lots of jocularity about whether -- as we know -- when the pope arrives, his first up is in the speaker's office. then they will bring the other top leaders, the other big three, into the room for a photo op. there has been a lot of jocularity. him ak it will only buy few days of goodwill, to be honest. even this afternoon, after the pope's papal speech is over, they are supposed to have a meeting of their own to decide where to take the whole government shutdown challenge. and whether this gives this because the reserve or the result he needs to get through this, i don't know. and he has a particular challenge. some of the messages the pope

has been striking our hot button ones. -- are hot button ones. what are the politics of that? guest: that is an interesting question. i think most of the conservative republicans -- as far as i know, there is only one member of his caucus that has announced he will boycott this. i have not heard of another one. i think that in general, the republicans will make the most of what -- they are going to try and put things in the speech that work to their ideology. and the pope is going to try and transcend ideology as much as possibly -- as much as he possibly can. i think that the speaker is -- for all the reasons that the speaker is under fire, it is not as though the republicans are extra angry at him for bringing in somebody who might be perceived as shaking a finger at them. i think that in general the

republicans are probably glad for this moment, even though they think it will probably make them a little uncomfortable. host: the countdown to the speech, we will continue to show you lots of sights and sounds around capitol hill this morning. while we are talking about the strikes,at the pope let's listen to some of his remarks from yesterday. this is some of what he had to say on climate change. let's listen. [video clip] francis: i am finding courage that you're proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution. >> [applause] francis: -- the urgency, it seems clear to me also that wemate change is a problem left to ourr be

future generations. >> [applause] when it comes to the care of our common home, we are living at a critical moment of history. make thehave time to change needed to bring about a sustainable development, for we know that things can change. >> [applause] such change: a serious our part the kindon not only of

of the world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under our system, which has overlooked to them. been part ofme has which guides us to heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities, our societies. -- of the martin luther king, we defaulted.t we have time to honor it. >> [applause] host: well, the president had to

be quite happy about that message. how will it be received on capitol hill? guest: i think that is right. one of the mysteries, for those of us watching this morning who pay attention to speeches in the house chamber often, is just how much the atmosphere will be like church, how much will it be like a traditional speech on the floor of the house by a leader, ae the president -- i.e. the president. -- and the other side sitting on its hands. so it will be really interesting to see how the crowd, the audience, reacts. this will not -- the fact that the pope foreshadowed this message yesterday sort of out of -- not out of nowhere, but he raised it when he didn't have to

at a welcoming ceremony clearly suggests that that was a foreshadowing and a warning to the members of the speech they will here this morning. and it will have maybe some meat, some news. host: you are watching some of the buses live on capitol hill. let's talk about logistics. several tiers of places that have been set up for watching the speech. the tickets were highly restrict their -- highly restricted. how does that work? guest: each member of congress got exactly one ticket to give away for inside the chamber. host: so likely, they are sitting there and then they get one person to invite. guest: to put in the gallery. host: usually a family member. guest: some are family members. they are, in some cases, catholic leaders from their local district. a catholic bishop. some of these bishops are already in town.

it was interesting to note, right before you and i started talking during the half session is that they made a tiny bit of news. the announced to make sure that nobody comes onto the floor who is not to be on the floor, and to make sure nobody leaves before the pope leaves. they are going to lock the doors to the house chamber during this speech and after this speech. so that just shows you how important the ticket is. the next best ticket in the place is a ticket in statutory hall. former members of congress, who are usually allowed for privileges, were told that they cannot exercise their floor privileges to come watch the speech. there are some other sort of super vips that will sit there. that will be a great seat, in part, because the pope will come through statutory hall after his speech. he is going to apparently bless the statue of saint junipero twoa, one of california's

statues that happen to be there. and the best ticket after that is on the west front. every senator was given 20 seeds and every house member five seats, so that is the and or level closest to the pope. they would be, in theory, able to make eye contact with the pope. and then after that, down the mall, sort of like the inauguration went after the vip seats, it becomes open sitting and members of the public have been riding the metro in this morning. host: and as they house speaker tweeted this morning, jumbotron's set up all over the -- jumbotrons set up all over the area. reporters do.us we tend to watch the tv. host: here is how the day will proceed. when he arrives here, which is expected to be at about, oh, an hour from now, he will be

meeting with speaker boehner beforehand. 10:01, the official start time of the joint meeting address inside the house chamber. after he leaves the house chamber -- and we will talk more about the reigning of the members of congress because you have written a piece about it this week -- he will visit statutory hall, and make a visit to new saint junipero serra. then has a brief meeting in the speakers' office before he walks out onto the speakers' balcony. we have seen some beautiful shots looking out across the west front. we don't know yet if he will talk. you and i have been witness to the extraordinary amounts of setup and preparation and expense of equipment. hopefully he will say a few words after all that. guest: they are very -- they have given him every opportunity

by setting up everything he needs to say a few words. host: that he moves on to his other two events today in washington dc. i made reference to it, but we were intrigued by your comment. i'm thinking about all the c-span watchers out there who watched the state of the union address. and c-spanom -- watchers can even name them -- who camp out to get the aisle seat as the president goes down the aisle to get that shot, shake his hand. they were worried about this. why? guest: because the vatican -- what we have seen, this pope likes to reach out and touch people. the vatican has made clear that that is the pope's decision. the crowd is not supposed to reach out and touch him. the pope's preference is if he wants to initiate contact, he will do it. but for a member of congress, it is sort of antithetical to their very being. they say, look, but don't touch.

there are some members of congress who's best way of ever getting on national television is to sit on those i'll seeds for state -- on those aisle seats and reach out for the president. the vatican said no to all of that, but the leadership didn't think that some of the members really could be trusted. so the leadership on both sides have been enlisting some of their best behaved members to seat,- not just the aisle but the second seat in and the third seat in to form -- i call the a reverse -- i call it a reverse escort committee to prevent the pope from being approached to intimately. host: they are running interference, and other words. guest: they are blocking tackles. host: and there are instructions about what to wear today? guest: that is right. in the presence of the pope, you are supposed to be wearing dark

colors. it, dresseserstand below the knee. women are supposed to have their shoulders covered when they are on the house floor, but there is no rule about house the court about skirt length, but apparently you are have to -- you are supposed to have your skirt below your knee. many members like to wear bright colors because it lets them stand out. we will see what happens there. host: and also, the rules about no clogs. guest: that is what we -- that is what they have been told, to refrain from the clapping. and that is going to be tough because members like to clap. there has been lots of clapping so far today. there was lots of clapping on the south lawn yesterday for the president and the pope had to say. there was applause at the -- at

saint matthews cathedral. there was, i think, some applause at the basilica, at the shrine, yesterday. so we will see if the -- if the house members and senators can break from their own custom. host: there are three reasons for this. first is the corum for the pope. the second is the pope's non-native english speaker, so they are wanting to not throw him off. and really, the third one is that there is a real time crunch to this. guest: there is a time crunch, and we have seen -- we have seen the speech this morning. we are not allowed to talk about what it says, and i didn't have a chance to run it through my word count calculator, but it is many words long. it is a dense speech. and the pope, as we saw a few minutes ago, he does not think of himself in any way as proficient in english.

this was described at the vatican as one of the first important sets of remarks yesterday. this is going to be a challenge for the pope, and to give this he wants to get through it without too many distractions. host: most joint meetings of congress, the diplomatic corps is invited. will they all be invited today? guest: that is a great question and i was trying to figure it out yesterday. and i don't think so. i don't know. they have come when other world leaders have come, but i'm not sure. i don't think so. i don't think we are going to see too many supreme court justices, the joint chiefs. maybe the diplomatic corps, yes. but i would be surprised if we saw too many supreme court justices. host: we now have a live picture of the pope leaving massachusetts avenue, the vatican embassy here in washington dc. let's watch. >> [cheering]

[indistinct chatter] [indistinct chatter]

[cheering] [indistinct chatter]

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[indistinct chatter] [cheering] [applause] [indistinct chatter]

[indistinct chatter] [cheering] [applause] [indistinct chatter]

and that is the pope leaving the vatican embassy on massachusetts avenue. pretty close to the vice president's house, making his way down towards the capitol. we were remarking -- though there are tons of preparations for this, the challenge that the pope likes to plunge into the crowd gives the security folks. guest: it makes them tense. i think i saw the head of the secret service being part of the detail yesterday. it certainly looked like him. they have been planning this for months. they have members of the secret service traveled overseas to watch the pope on another foreign trip just to see how he operates, understand the rhythms of how he likes to greet people and when he likes to do it. right, i'm in, it is a delicate thing -- i mean, it is a delicate thing because on the

one hand he is a guest, on the other hand it is their responsibility. their inclination is to hold him back, his inclination is to be pastoral and plunge in, so it is a second by second challenge for them. host: we were talking earlier about to the pope's arrival into the house chamber, and we have a bit of video that i would like to be able to show, if we can, about what that scene is like, him walking down that hallway. that will be a familiar one because we were talking about the members having -- running interference for the pope. guest: that is the house chamber. and that is coming down the center aisle of the house chamber. the blocking tackle members will be on either side of that i'll. -- aisle. republicans will be on the right of the pope, democrats on the left. that is the recording clerk's table.

they always seem to walk that way, towards the left. and during all this time will be the thunderous applause that they are old told to make. the pope will come up to this lectern. by the way, we understand he will be introduced kind of like the state of the union a speech -- state of the union speech. they will say, mr. speaker, the pope of the holy see. he will stand there, the applause will eventually die down, then speaker boehner will say, it is my high honor and privilege to present the pope, and there will be another thunderous applause. only then will we get down to the business of hearing what he has to say. host: and who will be seated behind him? guest: the speaker and the vice president.

this is the way joint meeting works, it is always the speaker and vice president. is there, amazingly to me, our only roman catholic vice president in american history. john boehner is actually six of the last 10 people elected catholics,e roman the seventh, newt gingrich, converted to catholicism when he -- after he was elected speaker. the speaker got forecast and he got for the speaker guests and he chose mr. and mrs. gingrich and the mother of the former chief of staff who died a couple of years ago. he invited paul is mom -- paula's mom. host: this has to be a special moment for both men, joe biden is very much a practicing roman

catholic. also a man facing big decisions in his career. as we discussed, john boehner at a big moment in his career, the vice resident at a big moment in his career. they are presumably both relying on their face to get through this. so you have the global leader of , itr faith within a touch is probably a pretty momentous moments. host: that was senator patrick his staff.rmont with he has the honor of being the most senior catholic among the congress. he also penned a piece today about what the pope visit means to him. he talks about how to -- how during his lifetime, john f. kennedy being catholic was highly controversial, and now we are seeing a post before conference -- and now we are seeing a pope speak before congress. guest: it really is a remarkable

change. catholicism has been the plurality religion in congress at least since kennedy was when john f. kennedy was inaugurated it was about 1/5 catholic. now it is 31% catholic even though the population is 21st -- 22% to 25% catholic. host: 16 democrats, 11 republicans. 70 each of democrats and republicans in the house. a big day for washington dc in general. you can see the crowds gathering. we are a little under one hour away from the time the pope is expected to get his address. morning he is invited by speaker boehner. the white house certainly got

involved in this once the invitation was extended. he goes on to talk to the united nations. important time as well with the refugee crisis in europe. guest: it is probably not going to get as much attention, i am going to guess -- i know pope spoke to theh united nations, i am confident that john paul ii did at some point too. it will be a newsworthy speech. i think the pope has been given thepportunity to dominate global conversation for a whole week, which even when you're pope you do not get to do too often. host: where will you be able to watch today? guest: i will be able to watch from my desk. i will be back at my desk. i will have my prepared text of saidatican press office

out to reporters. we are all being given a head start on reading it, but we can't say a word about it until he actually says the words he is going to say. they have made clear that sometimes hopes, like presidents, deviate -- hopes -- popes, like presidents, deviate from their texts. if he deviates from a phrase that will get even more attention. there are present seats in the gallery. how are they handed out? they have many people clamoring for their one ticket. each news organization essentially got one seat, so we had virtually every reporter at roll call who wanted to go. we had some tough decisions to make. there wasn't some special inhemy about who got to be the room. we gave it to our white house whoespondent, steve dennis,

has a terrific and a very fast writer and a great observer of color and can do it all. host: i understand you have several more places to be this morning before the speech. thank you for spending time with the support -- this morning and for your observations. we mentioned that there is speculation about what the pope will say regarding many of the issues that are dividing the country. he did talk about that and some of his earlier's beaches -- earlier speeches. let's listen to what he had to say earlier about immigration. [video clip] pope francis: good morning. , i am deeply in thel for your welcome name of the old americans. as the son of an immigrant be a guestm happy to

in this country, which was largely built by such families. [applause] host: and we have another yesterday where the pope addressed another issue of importance to many catholics in the country, and that is the sex abuse scandal in the church. let's listen to that. [video clip] i know how much of the wounds of the last few years and weighed on your spirit, ofoined in the efforts succoring those victims. uccorwe bring cigar -- s been the victims are healed and we have to hope that such events

will never be themselves. pope that was the yesterday commenting on the sexual abuse and all in the church, his story in the newspaper this morning that families who have been affected by it feel that the church has not gone far enough on that are in our -- and are expecting more from the pope. looking at live pictures from the capitol grounds this morning, these are the people with coveted seats that are closest to the front of the capital -- capitol. they will be watching on jumbotron's, but the advantage to those seats is that they are front and center for the pope's brief visit on the speaker's balcony following his address to congress. very carefully orchestrated day. the schedule is being watched very carefully. the pope is expected to finish at about 10:50 and then be on to his day for the rest of the visit. the pope is right now coming

massachusetts avenue. it is a fairly short ride, mostly because after you have heard, all of the traffic and the washington area is blocked. he is making a quick trip to capitol hill. he will be coming up alongside the capital, making a left-hand turn on a street that bridges the capital building and the u.s. to bring her, and then from there making his way into the house of representatives for a brief meeting with the speaker before he moves into the house chamber for the joint session of congress. let's listen in for a few minutes about what is going on on capitol hill. [indiscernible]

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host: and you are now seeing the papal motorcade make its way towards the east front of the capitol building. we are going to watch this as he makes his way from his fiat up the steps of the capitol. let's watch. [indistinct chatter]

speaker boehner: is that good or bad? host: this is the live picture inside capitol hill where the speaker is obviously awaiting his very special guest. we are going to watch. members of the press corps with cameras there are awaiting the pope's arrival. >> your device?

your contractions? contraptions? a little too bright actually. [indiscernible] host: we have gotten word that the pope is actually walking down the hallway to the speaker's office now and so he should be arriving momentarily inside to greet the speaker. some impromptu comments from the

speaker to the members of the -- to the people in the room, including members of the press corps. that example is what i admire. i have got a job to do here. [indiscernible]

speaker boehner: your holiness. welcome. we are really glad that you are here. [indiscernible] speaker boehner: thank you. [indiscernible] speaker boehner: thank you for being here. good morning. good morning. [indiscernible]

pope francis: thank you so much for the invitation. [indiscernible] speaker boehner: i wanted to , ire the old consortium tie have it on my desk.

speaker boehner: -- pope francis: [indiscernible] speaker boehner: ok. thank all of you. host: that was the official visit between the pope and the speaker in the speaker' ceremonial office. , who isay the monsignor the official translator for the pope, monsignor mike michaels. looking at live figures from inside the capitol building. this is quite a complex event involving most of the television networks in cooperation all across the city.

more than 20 separate feeds coming in from all across the .own we will have coverage of the pope speech before the -- the pope's speech. we will have coverage of the before the joint session of congress. the scheduled time is 10:01 eastern time. once it is over when he goes out to the speakers balcony to visit with the crowd there, as soon as we have the opportunity we will open up the phone lines to your reaction to the message the pope delivered here. members of congress have already been commenting about this day. earlier today we saw a picture of patrick leahy, the seniormost catholic member of the united states congress, the senator from vermont. he took a picture of his wife on the speaker's balcony and posted on his balcony -- on his stockr feed, marcel takes of the crowd.

the estimated crowd between 40000 and 60,000 people. here is another member of cornyn., senator john one of his guests this morning, his eminence cardinal nardo -- cardinal dinardo. more members of congress are commenting about the days events. shelley pingree -- pingree.angry -- live picture there across the monument on a beautiful september day here in washington dc. tammy baldwin, member of the senate, she has this posted on twitter. go,et in hand, reverend is

, her guest,brisco boarding the subway. @pontifex is the pope haas -- pope's twitter handle. of course this pontiff very active on social media. we are going to watch more live video feed here and be back in just a few minutes. [indistinct chatter]

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host: and for this joint meeting , you just saw the leaders of the senate, majority leader mitch mcconnell and harry reid,

the democratic leader, making their way over to the chambers. watching live coverage of the pope's historic visit to capitol hill. we are just about half an hour from when his speeches expected to get underway. one of our viewers tweeted us a question, why are we treating a religious leader with the grading of -- the greeting of a head of state? and the national law journal answered that this morning, he spoke to people who work for watchdog organizations that look at the separation of church and state. he wrote, americans for the separation of church and state is not protesting the participation of papal events, in part because of the pope's dual status. he has always straddled to world. obviously he is the head of a major world religion that he is also considered the head of

state. americans have always believed that the idea of the vatican being a separate state is something of a legal fiction, but it is well-established since the reagan administration. born in south america, as we know. he is not a native english speaker, making his first visit in his entire life to the united states. we are going to listen to his biographer a little bit more about the life of this man who serves as the first pope francis, the first non-european pope, and his observations on his tenure. [video clip] political.re overtly

previous popes would have their conversations behind the scenes. find the scenes of pope is very frank. when he met president obama in the vatican he said to him, aok, i is speaking to not as pope. he is more politically engaged. was a theologian who put ideas forward in a scholarly way and hoped people would be influenced by region, but this pope is out there in the political marketplace doing battle for his ideas. host: some of the observations of paul lavallee who is the of "the struggle for the soul of catholicism. " isning us now on the phone

mr. richie, who has been very helpful in giving us some background. good morning. how is this one difference? guest: it is very different to have a religious leader. although for example, the queen of england is head of the church of england. when religiouse leaders come to speak they do not speak before a joint meeting. when the dalai lama was here he spoke to members in an auditorium in the capital, but not at a joint meeting. on the other hand we have had lots of people who were not heads of state who have spoken to congress, it including the first foreign visitor, the marquis tilapia -- te.quis de lafayet he spoke to congress as a veteran of the american

revolution. host: how are these invitations normally extended? the leader of- congress normally extends the invitation. normally the speaker of the house, but being a bicameral institution they always consult the leadership of the senate. both ofthe body is -- the bodies will be there. it is not a joint session. it is a joint meeting of congress. the leadtime to have a joint session is if the president is joining them for the state of the union or if they are counting electoral ballots. occasionsceremonial in which the leaders of both bodies feel it is important for the members to listen to a visiting head of state. host: and when there is a joint meeting as opposed to a joint session, will it be customary to invite those that we see of the state of the union, such as the joint chiefs, the diplomatic members ofer of -- the supreme court and the

cabinet? guest: it tends to be that everyone gets invited. people comeof those for a joint session, not necessarily for a joint meeting. if it is somebody they really want to hear they will definitely seek to attend. there have been occasions in which there were relatively minor nations that were involved and attendance was not necessarily quite as large as it would be for when the pope is here. host: the tickets this morning highly coveted. that was a challenge for speakers offices, majority leader's offices. can you talk a little bit about how members handle allocations of tickets when they get very few? guest: they make at least one ofson very happy and a lot people very unhappy, which is not necessarily what politicians like to do.

there are 534 members of congress, each one of them gets a ticket. the leadership has a few extra tickets. extra spaces many and the gallery. basically the members will have to choose. sometimes a ticket will go to a spouse, sometimes it will go to a favorite staff member. sometimes it will go to a constituent of someone special in their district who would desperately like to be there. there are a lot of people they have to disappoint by having a very limited number of tickets. in recent years the rules were changed to allow members to bring electronic devices on the floor of the congress. do you know if they are allowed to bring their smartphones in today, and would members be seen snapping pictures inside the chamber? guest: they have asked members to observe a certain type of the corn -- a certain type of the quorum. in the senate chamber they do

not allow electronic devices, but in the house with recent changes they do allow. they can text, they can tweet. you are not supposed to take pictures in the chamber, but they have asked for this occasion members to restrain themselves a little bit more, particularly not to hang over the pope arrives, presumably not to take pictures. ifm not sure if they are -- there has been a complete band but it is certainly a request. host: we also learned earlier officials,stening to that the doors of the chamber are going to be locked. is that something you are familiar with happening? guest: the senate used to do a lot of its business and executive sessions. it ever did nominations and treaties. they would literally eject everybody from the gallery, including reporters from the

press gallery, and then they would go in and locked the doors and so no one could come in while they were discussing that. this is historically issue. i'm not aware of that happening for joint meetings, presumably there is some security issue involved. there is certainly precedent for locking the doors. sot: we understand it is members will not leave the chamber until after the pope has had his opportunity. they don't want lingering as the pope makes his way out of the chamber. guest: well, by comparison when they do the state of the union, the members make a beeline to the hall where all the cameras are set up to make their commentary. i suppose there is that sense , of stepping out as soon as possible so you can broadcast your own opinions. just saw vice president biden leading the senate delegation crossing over to the

house side. can you talk a little bit about that ceremony of the members crossing from one side of the capitol to the other? guest: they use the house chamber because it is the larger chamber. once in a wild a have come over to the senate chamber when there is not a lot of people in town. the senators then have to march the length of two football fields to get from the senate chamber to the house chamber. the vice president leaves the possession with the president pro tem for, -- the president go straightnd they through the capital to their rotunda.a -- to their i have locked in that possession and i can tell you that if you are at the very back you really have to run, because the front of the line is practically dared by the time the last people leave the senate chamber. it is a little bit like crack the whip if you are at the back

of the line. sit: and do the senators according to party once they are inside? guest: not usually. they sit as they come in. sometimes they will take a seat according to their party, but look, they have actually made an effort in recent congresses to try to intersperse democrats and republicans together. for the most part they do. it is basically wherever there is an available seats. host: and right after this special event is over it is back to business for both of these chambers, it is a very busy agenda until the end of the fiscal year with some contentious issues. do special days and make any difference in the partisan nature of this building? guest: they do disrupt. during the bicentennial so many heads of state came and somebody wanted to speak to congress that eventually the speaker of the house said no more, we can't get our work done. but on this occasion i suspect

that it will probably have a .eal boost to people's morale it is good sometimes to divert your attention from the contentious issues that you are dealing with, and maybe it will bring a little bit more horrible -- harmony into the institution. and a reminder that politics aside there is some commonality amongst the members. as we close out with you here, where will this kind of date be recorded in the annals of congressional history? this will certainly be a highlight. it will be something that people talk about. these speeches get quoted considerably afterward. probably one of the most important addresses was made by ofston churchill on the 26th december, 1941, right after pearl harbor. it had a huge morale boost for the entire nation. that speech is repeatedly cited in textbooks and history accounts.

i suspect that this speech will be one of the speeches people will remember. host: you are looking at a beautiful life picture here of the senate assembled to go into the house chamber. around the room are several of .his -- of the statues would you explain to people the tradition of the statues in the capital? moved outce the house of the chamber that is now called century hall back in 1857, the congress has invited this debt -- the state to send two statues of their most significant citizens. of people.real mix ,hey are politicians, priests poets. there is rose or parks -- there parks, apart cap -- rosa jefferson davis is there. .t is a real mix of americana it celebrates the fact that we are a mixture of states and each of these states has put up the

people they consider to be the great achievers. host: thank you very much john ritchie, who has served many years as the historian of the senate. as you can see, the speaker it is gaveling in.

. . >> mr. speaker, the chief justice and associate justices

f the supreme court. >> mr. speaker, the president's cabinet.