good day, i'm kate snow. right now on msnbc live, making history. we will go live to cuba for the latest on pope francis' visit there as the united states prepares for his historic visit here tomorrow. "nbc nightly news" anchor, lester holt, joins me here in the studio. church and state, republican presidential candidate ben carson under fire for his comes to nbc's chuck todd about having a muslim in the white house. >> do you believe that islam is consistent with the constitution? >> no, i don't. i do not. i would not advocate that we put a muslim in charge of this nation. i absolutely would not agree with that.

plus, is joe biden ready to make it official? new comments today from the vice president as his wife voices her support. 'd to, pope francis is spending his last full day in cuba. right now, blessing the city where he delivered mass this morn before flying less than an hour from now to satiago de cuba in the southeast, the second largest city joining me from havana is claudio laugh van ga. pope francis spoke about the sacrifices catholics made in cuba. what is the message he is delivering with his next stop? >> the homilies that he delivers usually are secreted until they are actually delivered but the next mass is going to hold tomorrow in satiago de cuba, but he already touched on all the subjects that he was expected to in his two full days here in cuba. yesterday, in havana, he hinted that people should really serve each other rather than ideals that will, of course, seem like

a little of a poke to the ideology of socialism here, or as you would lake to interpret it. but then he moved on today to talk about how difficult it has been for the church to operate, if not exist at all in this country since the revolution in 1959. now, he said that he acknowledged the efforts ant sacrifices of the church and he also appreciated the so-called mission houses. now there are thousands of mission houses here, houses, private homes, turned into house of prayers to offset the shortages of priests and churches in the last 60 years. so, next, he goes to satiago de cuba, as you said. tonight and tomorrow, he will visit the basilica there, the basilica dedicated to the patron saint of the island before he flies to washington, d.c. where he is expected to land at 4 p.m., the first leg of his four-day trip to the u.s., kate. >> a lot of history being made in cuba as well. thank you so much, nbc's claudia laugh vanga in havana. this is an historic visit

for any pope but for francis it is much larger, the first latin pope to deliver whomly to cubans in his native spanish and he received a warm greeting from fidel castro, one of the last of the revolutionary communist leaders, just as the cold war between the u.s. and cuba begins to thaw out, much with his help. cuba is the beginning. on wednesday, pope francis will meet with president obama in the white house and then he begins a whirlwind tour of the east coast of america, parades in washington, a joint address to congress and then to new york city, central park, the 9/11 memorial and all capped off with a visit to philadelphia where they are expecting millions of people. joining me now is lester holt, anchor of "nbc nightly news." you are going to -- you're not going to sleep this week. >> i won't. before we talk about this congratulations on your role here. >> thank you. >> at msnbc, where you know, i spent many years. >> you have been here. you were telling me you are going to give me tricks. >> keep reading, as they same. >> but angering from the road. >> we will be in washington

tomorrow when he arrives. he will be arriving late in the afternoon at andrews air force base and of course, the next day, have his historic visit at the white house with the president. on the same trip in d.c., he will, of course, be addressing congress. and it raises some interesting things because, you know, some have said that this pope and president obama really are on the same page on a lot of issues, like climate change, like incarceration, and these sorts of things. so, web he speaks to congress, there are some on the right who, you know, basically saying we don't want a lecture on some of these issues. >> he made some very strong comments this summer, i believe, about global climate change and there are -- he got into politics. >> get into politics. but let's remember, watching him in cuba here and he, you know, played this instrumental role in, you know, creating the opening for the u.s. and cuba to start talking about the normalization of relations and even that is has run afoul of some on the political right.

>> who you do you view the big picture, you look at the context for this trip. pope john paul ii was in the united states quite a few times. our last pope, not so much. what do you think the significance is? >> part of the significance is this is a pope who has really come out in many ways against, you know, the evils of capitalism and comes to this very, very wealthy country and be an interesting lens he's comes here and speaks his message. i mean, he has been very, very powerful on this notion of simplicity, of really getting back to the core. i was at a seminary in philadelphia last week, where he will be staying. and he has inspired young seminarians, the number of people enroll there had have increased and called it the francis effect, he has inspired a number of young men who want to answer the call. >> service. >> also, he is credited with bringing a lot of catholics back into the fold. >> and what are you personally looking forward to the most, can i ask? >> you know, i don't know.

i don't know. i think whenever you see a pope in public, it's very -- it's very magical. i guess he does the small parade around the ellipse in washington and central park, it's always interesting and fun to watch the effect. i was there when he was elected at the vatican, standing ining overlooking the square and watching the people as the smoke began pouring out, the bells ringing, he walked out, that huge ovation and something i think -- i'm not catholic but something you just watch with this awe and the majesty of it all. >> i'm not catholic either, but we were in rome this summer, my family and i, and we went on a sunday and stood there and looked up at the window and there is -- he is -- he transcends religion in some ways. >> this grin on his face. there's -- he is very disarming but if you listen to him, his message is not. he is very pointed and i think he will be very candid. he will be speaking obviously in english when he meets with the

president and before the u.s. congress. very measured and will speak his mind. >> a man, by the way, speaks native spanish, but a number of languages and english isn't one of the top three lang what happens. >> part of the job requirement. lester holt, we will look for your coverage on "nbc nightly news." >> thank you, kate. >> thank you for being here on this first day. >> you know where i live, right down the hall. >> you be careful. >> come knocking for you every day. two and a half hours to the broadcast. >> let me plug "nbc nightly news" tonight on your nbc station. >> that's right, 6:30 in most markets. thank you. >> take care. and joining us now is father manuel durantes, assistant to the director of the wholly sea press office, he will be traveling with the pope as he travels through the u.s. good to see you. thanks for being with us. >> thank you, kate. it's great to be with you. >> tell me what we should anticipate. we were just talking to lester holt about our coverage and what we are expecting. but what are you expecting? you know him well? >> i'm expecting him to be able

to honor his vocation. you know, for a priest, we all have a calling and we have a vocation, but when you -- when you are called by the holy spirit and by the church to serve as pope, the -- he has a special vocation. and his vocation is to be a bridge, a bridge among people who may be different, who may think differently, who may have different ideologies, et cetera, and so what i'm expecting him to see he is already starting the first leg of the trib with cuba and now coming into the united states. and he is bridging, basically, these two countries who have been -- which have experienced enmity over these so many years and so much pain that has gone between the two countries. what i'm expecting to see here in the states to the show same thing. we have people -- he comes to a point in the united states when we are so politically divided and i think he is going to be calling us and serving really as a bridge between the different ideologies. he is going to highlight the fact that there are bridges and not walls. >> this morning in his homily,

he spoke about the sacrifices that cuban catholics have made for their faith. what did traveling to cuba mean for this pope? this is obviously something that means lot to him as a latin american leader. the only time he had been to cuba was only a single stop at an airport. so, this was really his very first time in his life going to cuba. and i think he also wrote a book going back to the visit of john paul ii, saint john paul ii, basically the dialogues. he has always been very interested in cuba. cuba has -- is part of the latin american family and him being a latin american pope it was very close to his heart. >> we were joking earlier that when he comes to the u.s., it's his first trip here and perhaps there's some things that's going to want to see or do we were joking about pizza in brooklyn. any insight into -- do you think he will go off script, so to speak and make some side trips

or can we expect this to be a very choreographed trip? >> look, if the holy sea press office, father lombard dirk the spokesperson for the holy father always warns us, be ready for surprise. do not commit to say he is going to do this or he is going to do that. he is moved by the holy spirit and by the encounter that he has with people. and so, let's not be -- really try to script him. he is definitely going to surprise us. >> we can't wait for the surprises. thank you so much for being with us, father manual doratnes. thank you. >> thank you. vice president joe biden trails hillary clinton in the polls by 20 points. excitement for him to join the race continues to rise. a big question on everyone's mind, will he or won't he? and speaking of the democratic front-runner, hillary clinton set to arrive at the clinton presidential library in little rock, arkansas. her topic, health care. plus, the carson campaign responds to critics who are slamming remarks that he made about muslims. we will have the latest on that. don't go any were.

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we have some breaking news to tell you about in 2016 politics much the "new york times" reporting this hour that wisconsin governor scott walker will be dropping out of the race. nbc news is working to confirm that, but it's being reported by the "new york times." joining me now, host of msnbc's "andrea mitchell reports," andrea mitchell in washington. >> hi, kate. >> you are the one to ask. "new york times" reporting scott walker may be out of the race. a lot of people have been talking for weeks about his standing and whether it was becoming harder for him to raise money. what do you know? >> i think it's very likely. big donors are saying that his

performance in the debate and his performance overall has just been singularly unimpressive. he had advantages early on in neighboring iowa but has blown those chances and he has also not made a mark. i was just talking to some leading republicans recently. remember when scott walker said that he would build a wall between wisconsin and canada, which was i guess trying to outtrump trump and the mexican wall? well, the border between business which is and canada is right down the middle of lake superior. so, that created a lot of hilarity in two countries, actually, but certainly among republican donors. he just has not added up as an effective candidate. and so i will be calling sources to try to match that "new york times" report. >> in a few minutes. let you get off the air and make phone calls. in all seriousness, tim pawlenty was on the wear, a former governor from minnesota and talking about we had 16

candidates in the field, some point, we are going to get to the point were it starts to winnow down. are we starting to see that now? >> absolutely. and i think as you've seen after this second debate, you are seeing a dividing line between those who punched through and those who didn't. it is going to start winnowing down and actually, that is not to donald trump's advantage, because in the smaller field, you're going to begin seeing a dividing line among -- between those who could be nominees and could run effectively in a general election and many of the party elders at least feel couldn't. obviously this is a year none of us have been correct predicting how these outsiders are going to fare but there is a republican establishment and there are serious people in the republican party, elected officials, who feel that this is not good for the republican party and that at some point, they have to get past the trump-style candidacy and even the ben carson candidacy, as you have seen most recent any ben carson's

reactions on "meet the press" and savannah guthrie again on today show >> andrea mitchell washington, lets let you go and make some of the phone calls. get back to it. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> casey hunt is joining us now, nbc news senior political editor, mark murray. casey, let me start with you. you have spent a lot of time with the walker campaign there were such high hopes you think back, what, a year or two. you know, people were watching him in wisconsin and the showdown with the unions there and saying this might be our man for 2016. what's changed? >> yep. >> kate, i remember covering his governor's race this pastime around and all the focus was on whether or not he was actually going to stay governor of wisconsin and obviously, the wide expectation was that he would not but he was somebody who at that point was managing to win in a purple state while still energizing a conservative base and frankly, becoming the guy who so many in the republican establishment were pinning their hopes on. he was on conservative magazine covers and a campaign just

dramatically underperformed expectation and been a combination of things. he leapt out to the front of polls in iowa very early on and then had a couple of missteps with reporters, were he seemed to show that he maybe wasn't ready for primetime. and that sort of scared a number of his donors. it caused him to drop back in polls and many ways, also the greatest victim of this phenomenon that's been happening with donald trump. if anything, he is somebody who with have been able to channel conservative anger, he has been a life-long politician, he is somebody who has taken on institutions like the unions and one those fights but when trump shoot out front, he seemed to capture all of that energy and walker hasn't been able to regain that momentum. you have also seen a lot of donors start to get very jittery, very nervous. we have been hearing lot about potential money troubles in a walker campaign there's this fec deadline coming up f this report is correct, like you said, nbc still borking to confirm that -- >> let me jump in there because chuck todd, our colleague at "meet the press" has just

confirmed this news, so we can now report nbc news can confirm that scott walker, governor of wisconsin is dropping out of the race on the republican side. mark murray irk to the question of where we go from here, does this -- does this bode poorly for the rest of the field? there are going to be other candidates now scrambling in that sort of lower tier to make sure that they don't -- they don't face the same fate? >> it is a stunning development and one of the big reasons why, that it totally makes the iowa contest wide open. it was just about five or six months ago that scott walker was seen as the overwhelming front-runner to win the iowa caucuses and been mentioned, one of the reasons why is that he has roots in iowa, wisconsin is right next door to iowa. there were so many different built-in advantages. he also has able to touch on the evangelical community in iowa. and then, of course, just his record alone. and this is a stunning development because scott walker

had just a conservative's dreams list of accomplishments and whether it was taking on the unions, cutting spending in his own state, abortion restrictions, you name it and scott walker had been able to do it in battleground wisconsin. but now all of a sudden, iowa and the contest is wide open. someone like ted cruz, the texas senator, could end up benefiting. donald trump, ben carson, carly fiorina, the three republicans who vaulted in the polls after the first two debates could be beneficiaries as well. then again, the whole scramble, could this end up benefitting a jeb bush, who might be eventual winner of iowa might only need 20% of the vote from iowa republican caucusgoers. so i think this scrambles everything. the race we thought we were seeing five or six months ago has fundamentally changed and i don't think anybody has any idea of how it all shakes out four or five moments from now. >> that's for sure. governor scott walker just called a press conference, that will be at 6 p.m. eastern time, 5 p.m. in wisconsin in madison.

steve core knack kirk you are here, too. his last -- the last poll that we were just looking at earlier in the hour had walker at negative 1%. i mean, he fell pretty fast and pretty hard. >> what mark is saying is true, you take a trip back in time. >> less than 1%. not registering in the poll. go back in time to january or february, the conventional wisdom about this republican race that was jeb bush was going to be the overwhelming establishment favorite, raise a ton of money, a ton of endorsements and one sort of insurgent who can challenge him, best position to challenge him, it was going to be scott walker. obviously, that has not played out and trying to assess where this goes from here. mark saying true, 11-dimensional chechls the way i look at it is this, i think are two tracks when i look at the republican field and one is the outsider track and that is donald trump that is carly fiorina and that is ben carson and the people, the voters will are very angry with the system right now, they are rallying around those candidates. i think there's a second

competition going on right now for jeb bush would be included in this, marco rubio, john kasich, scott walk her been part of this, the ones who think that once the flirtation with the outsiders goes away some time late this fall, some time early next year, they want tonight one who emerges from that. i think those who are competing with scott walker on that track, it could be jeb bush, i think it really could be marco rubio, he has shown some life lately, potentially could be john kasich, one less obstacle for them to ultimately get some kind of a showdown with the outsider candidate. >> but mark, we are not at that point yet, right? we still got carly fiorina and donald trump and ben carson, even with the controversy the last 48 hours. how do you see things shifting over the next weeks? >> i don't. the next week, i think we have a good idea of where the race was going to end up being and right after the second republican debate, you end up having donald trump and carly fiorina and ben carson, to a lesser extent, still dominating you the conversation.

the conversation has had a correlation with the position in the polls, where the name i.d., the people who are registering the conversation tend to be doing a little bit better in the polls, but you know, kate, five months is going to be a lifetime between now and the iowa caucuses and given this stunning news from scott walker, there still was one route for him and that was the john kerry route, where that we had seen in 2003 at this very time the democratic race where someone like howard dean had just shot up into the polls and john kerry was in the low single digits, he basically went all that way up until about two or three weeks before the iowa caucuses. howard dean came crashing down to earth. dick gephardt and howard dean warred and that allowed someone like john kerry to benefit from all that, the big difference was, of course in that 2003/2004 contest, john kerry you was a war here rocker the democrats thought was going to be a war election. this is something very different. but really interesting dynamic going on here, a race often the republican governors with

results and scott walker is one of them. jeb bush, what is mattering more now is style in these debates. scott walker's performance in the last two debates has more to say -- is probably to blame for his poll position and money situation than anything else, despite all the conservative accomplishments that he h -- had. >> a sad statement on our political attention now that we are rating style, perhaps, on both sides of the aisle. >> i think it's a valid point that personality matters when people are choosing leaders. we can talk about the particular circumstances now, how much anger there is out there, how much frustration with the system there is, but scott walker, to merck is the classic example, i can think of others in the past, on paper, he checked off every single box that every republican said they were looking for. >> the res may is there. >> >> he would stand in front of an audience and put the audience to sleep. or you had the instances, the press would come to him with specific questions and he would punt, he would say this is not something i'm going to answer, not something i'm going to talk b basically, he was presenting

republicans with a checklist, saying these are all the issues that you say matter you, all the issues that i have pursued in which is with us and i have won, you make me president, i may not inspire you, i may not excite you, but i will sign the bills that you want the president to sign. one of the lessons here, that is not enough. people want to be inspired. he didn't inspire them. >> kasie, did he have a following. where do the folks go now, die-hard fans of scott walker, who do they -- any sense who they might turn to now? >> i think that's definitely the question here, kate, i thank you there might be some thinking in the walker camp, as i'm talking here to sources that in many ways, there's so much concern in the establishment of the republican party about donald trump. if they are going to be six establishment candidates splitting up what is basically the rest of the field while this 30% chunk is supporting him, it's possible that the party as a whole is better off if there are fewer of those people if they manage to consolidate support. i do think that there are a chunk of voters who really like

what walker's had to say on the union front, maybe they are blue collar voters who have traditionally paid more attention to politics than some of the people that are supporting donald trump who may have been in walker's camp that could now move somewhere else. i think the question is going to be do they, as you say, go to trump, go to carson, go to fiorina or this other group of people, jeb bush, marco rubio, who at some point are going to have to figure out how to stand up and take the stand against trump. but you know, i do think to go back to one thing that mark was saying, i mean, this is really a remarkable shifting of the field. as i'm talking to sources in other campaigns, they are absolutely stunned that he has elected to make this decision. i think there was a lot of thinking that, you know what walker's campaign was really on the ropes, it was not necessarily going to go anywhere, but people weren't sure that walker himself was going to come to that conclusion. i mean this is a guy who's been in politics since he was 22, since he ran for county executive. he is often talked about at being his own best strategist,

the guy making all of his campaign decisions strategica y strategically, usually something that, honestly, staffers make white candidate focuses on governing and legislating. walker is somebody who really, really loves the game. i think for that reason, there are a lot of people in and around politics who are very, very surprised that this seems to be the way it's going. >> steve, we were talking earlier to governor pawlenty and mentioned even some of the candidates that aren't drawing huge numbers in the polls have pac money that can keep supporting them and he was saying, you knee, so we could have a long time now where we still have a a lot of candidates in the field. governor walk her a pac, right? >> this is the interesting thing, took so, rick perry last week dropped out of the race though he didn't technically drop out of the race, what rick perry said he was doing last week was suspending his campaign. so, rick perry is technically reserving the option to get back into this thing if he feels that circumstances change and there's suddenly a new opening for him. we will see when scott walker makes his official statement if he is going to make -- parse it that way, fess saying i'm suspending this campaign, which

leaves open the possibility that come december there's chaos in the republican field answered once again sees an opening, i would look for that -- >> dos that deserve some money potentially, if it's there? >> not at this stage yet, but also would preserve delegates if you've won them. but you can suspend as opposed to dropping out. >> i want to bring in nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donne o'donnell. she has been working the phones on this as well. kelly, how are you doing? >> good to be with you, kate. i think steve makes a great point there that the option to suspend keeps some options open. now, scott walker is a man who has been talking about fiscal responsibility and he had a very expensive campaign with a lot of bills to pay and locking things down would make an argument that would be truer to his sort of political identity. when this race began and when i was working with sources and his top campaign officials, they talked about scott walker being the kind of candidate who could give sort of the three branches of the republican party, christian conservatives who are

very dominant in the iowa field, the establishment, which always looks to someone like a governor for that executive experience and then, of course, the tea party. the tea party also has other options in this race, but scott walker has had in his own backyard some ability to resonate with those voters. that's where they began and then donald trump happened. and in the fog of trump, scott walker has really been pushed off the stage. i've interviewed scott walker, spent time on the campaign trail with him and one of his first steps was to identify himself as a fighter, trying to distinguish himself from other candidates saying he has won. as kasie pointed out, he has won election after election since 2e6s 5 years old, he has been in elective office a very long time and in this environment, that's hard place to be, although none of it in washington, d.c., so he tried to position himself as an

outsider. woe claim that he fought and won, which became a mantra of scott walker, referring to three elections in four years. those were impressive credentials on pardon and when i was with him back in january, he sort of lit up the house for one of the key early of of the events. lost traction. not getting the kind of debate performances he needed and a very expensive campaign. he is his own political strategist. that's one of the things about him that is both a strength and can be a challenge as a campaign tries to move from state boundary like being a wisconsin, milwaukee county executive and then governor, to a national campaign. that becomes very difficult. his team told me they were going to focus exclusively on iowa, up their presence there and then he also made an appearance at the heritage action fund event in south carolina, where he was well received.

but as you look at this field, kate, there was no obvious path for scott walker. and that's where sources close to his campaign are saying today he will talk about ending this. when you see a campaign that is sort of holding a big news conference from madison, the state capital where he is governor, that's profound signal. i was with him when he launched and we have been following it through. this is a really huge development. kate? >> going to be an hour and a half from now that he holds that press conference in madison. kelly o'donnell, stand by there. thank you so much. mark murray, do we have any sense this is getting a little ahead of ourselves, any sense who he might if he is himself getting out of the race? would he throw his support behind another candidate? does he wait for a while? >> you are very right endorsements do matter when someone drops out and flow their support and staff and impromatur

over someone else. so if he does endorse, that would be a pretty big development here. one thing adding to all of kelly's great reporting is how big the issue of immigration was to scott walker's downfall in this contest. he had been setting himself up to be the anti-immigration, anti-illegal immigration candidate in this entire feenltd republican side, where you end up having a field consisting of people like jeb bush, who supports a comprehensive -- comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to legal status, where you have someone like marco rubio, who was one of the authors of the gang of eight legislation that passed the united states senate. and scott walker could have said he was positioning himself to be i'm against all of that. i'm real, true conservative. but what ended up happening was that on the issue of immigration, that scott walker got trumped by donald trump.

donald trump able to wrest the entire immigration issue away from supreme court walker because he was able to talk louder, harder, a bigger person that crack downed on illegal immigration than scott walker ever was promising so that issue of illegal immigration and how -- how scott walker lost that football to donald trump is a big part of this story. >> mark murray, casey hunt, kelly o'donnell, steve kornacki, stay with us. we are going to take a little break from politics for a second. pope francis is on his way to southeastern cuba. the pope has just left holguin where he celebrated mass in cuba, now flies to sant kbrag go decube bark the last leg of his cuba visit. he will meet there with bishops and celebrate mass there tomorrow morning before, of course, flying to the united states tomorrow afternoon. much more after the break. what do a nascar® driver...

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20162016. we have been following breaking news in 2016 politics, scott walker is dropping out of the presidential race. walker holding a press conference at 6 p.m. eastern time. we will bring that to you. pope francis just departed for his last stop on his visit to cuba, on his way to satiago de cuba now. tomorrow afternoon, the pope will head to the u.s. where, he will no doubt, be warmly received. but some u.s. catholics believe they have been pushed aside by the church. thomas roberts sat down with a group of them to talk about pope francis' impact. thomas joins me now here on the set. thomas, what do they say about what they are anticipating for this trip? >> it really was an interesting collection of people that we assembled, kate. this is a group of catholics whose real lives don't fit with church doctrine, they are divorced, lgbtq, pro-choice. through our conversation, there was church most stall xbra, they were kids, the church still accepted them fully, also

nostalgia for a time when public perception of the church was much more positive. one of the biggest shames for the church has been the sex abuse scandal and i asked how the church has changed in their lifetimes and where they think it's going. i think my generation is probably the last generation where the priesthood and priests were truly revered in community. >> does everybody feel that the priests that they grew up about and that they have been associated with pretty much represented to them god on earth? no? >> they were a family friend, they were a confidant, that was their role and it rightfully was. >> go out with father car modely to see movies. you do that today and they are going to pull him and ask him what are you doing with that boy? you no he? >> i saw you nodding your head a little bit. your perception of how the church handled the sex abuse crisis is what? >> it's an interesting thing, since i was an altar boy for ten

years, just nothing i ever experienced, nothing i knew anybody to have experienced because this one thing is this shadow that's of other the church as a whole, it's tough to get out of it. >> do you think it hangs over the church as a dark cloud? >> i know the first thing that happened that my children said to me, there you go, mom. they molested kids. there you go. for them, it was another excuse not to go to mass, another excuse maybe not to believe. i just wish that the catholic church were more forthcoming, more modernized so that the younger people could embrace it. >> what happens when people of my generation who are religious, when they become in those positions of power, what will that conversation be like 50, 60 years down the line? will it be as exciting or as hopeful as i want it to be? >> all right. so hope is a word that you hear repeated a lot throughout this

conversation. they hope that pope francis was a beginning of the change in the church. they hope it would be more accepting of women and lgbtq members of the church and they hoped that these changes would be lasting and led back to the vision of the church that they believed in when they were much younger and they are very good people there is they all have, kate. and they like francis. francis effect. >> as you said, these are folks who are going to church, right, they are going to mass. >> they all consider themselves. >> not completely disenfranch e disenfranchised. >> consider themselves practicing, while they are marginalized or would be on the fringes because of church doctrine, they own their faith and they are there. they show up, they go to the pews with their fellow catholics and also make their conflicts known, not in hiding about who they are. >> a lot of talk about the guest list, specifically at the white house ceremony, believe there is perhaps a transgender person invited to be -- i might be wrong on that but there are folks definitely in the gay community who are invited to attend. >> member he is of the lgbtq

community invited to the white house and a little bit of push back and i think people will see that from the white house to the vatican, either the vatican was upset that this was happening, the white house pushing back saying, no, they weren't. so there's a fine line in between, yes, going to be families, lgbtq families that are there and have the opportunity to meet the pope. so, three of the people within our panel have an audience with the pope. who are hair, he will be attending the mass at madison square garden but then kathy and kevin, as parted of our panel, will be at the white house to see pope francis and have a potential face-to-face meeting. >> are they hopeful that this is something that he actually embraces and talks about while he is here, that perhaps -- we all think back to the that moment on the plane, where he said, "who am i to judge?" >> yes, think something very attractive to so many catholics who miss their faith, who miss the warmth of their religion and they want to be at home with it and at ease with it.

they find that ease or hope in what pope francis is providing. i think a lot of people might be confused about he is socially liberal, i think there are aspects of pope francis that we have all reported on that would show that's very accepting, is he affirming is a different story? >> right, is he changing? he hasn't really changed church doctrine on many of these issues while making comments. >> but as a leader of the church, he has definitely given hope to people that find him to be an oasis in a place that's been a desert for them. these people i had the opportunity to speak with, it was such a great conversation, fascinating lives, whether they have been through failed marriages and remarried and divorced again or they are trans, or they are lesbian and gay or they are latino and struggling to come out to their families because of problems of stigma at home, francis represents something that is really refreshing and they find

him to be a new star, especially compared to benedict, but so excited he is coming to the u.s. and they really like what he represents. >> thank you for bringing that conversation with us. >> absolutely. >> i know you will have more on your show tomorrow, that's 1 to 3 eastern here on msnbc. >> we will, thanks, kate. up next, a touching story about a child who had cerebral palsy, two years ago, had a kiss from heaven by francis. plus, more on the big news of the hour, nbc news has confirmed that wisconsin governor scott walker is dropping out of the race. much more on that ahead. stay with us. (vo) maggie wasn't thrilled when ben and i got married. i knew it'd take some time. and her sensitive stomach didn't make things easier. it was hard to know why... the move...her food...? so we tried purina cat chow gentle...

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developing now, hillary clinton set to campaign in little rook, arkansas. any moment now, clinton is heading there to talk about health care. and joining us now is nbc's white house correspondent, kristen welker, who is out in little rock today. before we get to hillary clinton and her about to start, any reaction from the clinton campaign and scott walker on the news he is dropping out of the race? >> reaction starting to trickle in, kate. i got off the phone with a clinton campaign aide who tells me not a whole a lot of surprise given his poll numbers. having said that, she does lose one republican to attack, full, she had drawn sharp distinctions

with governor scott walker on the issue of unions. governor walker had fought with unions, as you well know. secretary clinton a staunch supporter of the union, she loses that talking point there's not a broader impact on her campaign because she is aggressively going to go after republicans on a number of issues. this is a key part of her strategy as she tries turn the page from the e-mail controversy. we saw that play out again when she attacked ben carson for his controversial comments when he said that a muslim shouldn't be president of the united states. she tweeted out, can a muslim be president of the united states, in a word, yes, now let's move on. she has yet to actually talk about that, but that is something we could hear from her when she arrives here in little rock in just a short time from now, kate. as you mentioned, she is here to talk about health care and again, she is going to continue to draw some sharp distinctions with republicans on this issue. republican candidates, of course, oppose the president's health care law, she is going to issue her support of it and then talk about ways that she plans to improve it tomorrow, she will

be unveiling her plan to lower the cost of prescription drugs. this strategy has been helping her. she has been gaining traction in some of the polls, increasing her lead, according to the latest cnn/orc poll, watching closely to see if they weighs in at all on governor scott walker or ongoing controversy with ben carson. >> kristen welker in little rock, arkansas, thank you so much. it became known as the kiss from heaven. on easter sunday, 2013, just two weeks into his papacy, pope francis stopped to greet a young boy, there's the video, from rhode island. he has cerebral palsy. the pope embraced the 8-year-old, his name is dominic and whispered in his ear and a moment you probably saw at the time, many say it set a tone for compassion throughout francis' papacy. paul and christiana, dominic's parents, where there that day at the vatican for that extraordinary moment and they join us now live. thanks for being with us today. i appreciate it. >> you're welcome. >> thank you.

>> i wonder, as you see that video again, i'm sure you have watched it a million times and you think back to that moment, what was it, what did it feel like to be there and watch that happen? >> for me, i was there personally, so, as a mom, it was a moment of just being complete awe that my son was being hugged by the pope and at the same time, i had my hand on his back thinking they don't know how he moves, they might drop him, so keep your hand there so, it was beautiful. it was very beautiful. >> it meant a lot to a lot of people, i think. it really touched people to see that. and it probably says something, paul, about who this pope is. do you expect as he comes here to visit the united states more moments like that? >> certainly, you know, i mean, that embrace happened just a couple of weeks after pope francis had been elected, so we were still getting to know who this new pope was and it was easter sunday, so all eyes were on rome anyway. that embrace, i think, was very

iconic because it helped to define the pastoral, i think, outreach of pope francis. every pope has his own distinctive qualities and traits and i think with pope francis, we see that time and time again. i do think we are going to see a lot of pastoral moments where pope francis is reaching out, giving kind of a human touch, which is what we saw with my son. >> and specifically with the community of people with disabilities, you know, he seems to approach, we saw video out of cuba this weekend, where he was approaching people who clearly have disabilities openly and warmly. does that send a message in terms of acceptance of people who have businesdisabilities? >> absolutely. they bring so much to the world and i think in really the -- it's the cause for life is such a loud cause right now. and they bring to the world a very obvious gift that they show in who they are and i think that's what francis -- pope

francis is doing is showing the validity of each person's life. >> now, we see the pope in that shot, that video, you see the pope whisper something in your son's ear. i think you don't want to say exactly what was said, but can -- can you give us a sense for how it made him feel? what did he say to you later? >> well, dominic, his physical limitations are pretty severe, but he is cognitively entirely normal so he knew -- he is the son of a professor of theology, he knew very much who the pope was, why he smiled and embraced him in return. he think it's great. when you ask dominic what is it like to be a rock star, he just smiles and giggles, but he won't say what pope francis whispered into his ear. we still haven't got that out of him. >> paul and christiana, thank you so much for sharing your story. we really appreciate it. such a lovely one. >> pleasure to be here. >> take care. we are following some big breaking news about apple suffering a hack attack. here's kate rogers with the cnbc

market wrap. >> hi, kate. that's right. apple is cleaning up its ios app store to remove malicious iphone and ipad programs that were identified in its first large-scale attack on the popular mobile software outlet. now the company disclosed the effort after several cyber security firms reported finding malicious software program dubbed x code ghost that was embedded in hundreds of legitimate apps. apple declined to say how many apps were directly impacted. the hackers embedded that malicious code in the apps by convincing developers of legitimate software to use a tainted counterfeit version of apple software for creating ios and mac apps, known as charge. code. now to the u.s. markets, all closing higher today, the dow up 126 point, the s & p rising 9, the nasdaq gaining two. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. can a business have a mind? a subconscious. a knack for predicting the future. reflexes faster than the speed of thought. can a business have a spirit?

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we have been following breaking news in 2016 politics. nbc news has confirmed that wisconsin governor scott walker is dropping out of the presidential race. walker planning to hold a press conference at 6 p.m. eastern. that's about an hour from now. back with us now is msnbc's casey hunt. casey, you have had time to make calls and talk to people. any word on what he will say when he comes doubt address folk s? >> i have spoken to advisers and scott walker will give some indication of who he might support going forward, not sure how detailed that might be and he will stop short of a recall toal a endorsement of any kind, i'm told.

we should at least get a sense of the kind of person he might be willing to throw his weight behind as we move forward. i do think walker does still hold a lot of clout with a certain segment of the republican party. there are a lot of establishment iffing yours, donors, people who while they may have been disappointed in his presidential run, they have still been pretty excite what he has been able to accomplish in which is and see him as an anti-union here rocker if you will. >> kasie, a supporter of walker said to the "new york times," the reason he is getting out of the ray the short answer is money. that's what it comes down to? >> almost always what it comes down to after that cleveland debate, it was really difficult to raise money. another frustration and place into money, because a lot of these donors, honestly, reading the same polls that we reporters are talking about. when they see the polls showing him falling farther and farther back, less willing to make an investment in the candidate, what the donors view this as, the same as buying a stock in a

company. they don't feel confident their guy will pull it out, much more reluctant to give him their money. i think there was a lot of frustration in the walker camp over these especially national polls, 'cause remember, these debates are being chosen based on those national pos. that's not actually what's going on in the early states were the first voting is going to take place. >> casey hunt following it all for us. thank you so much for being with us. and we are also watching live developments you the of santiago, where pope francis has just arrived for his final stop on his trip to cuba. in satiago de cuba, he will meet with bishops before heading to the u.s. where, of course, he is expected to arrive tomorrow afternoon in because washington, the beginning of several days here in the united states. he heads after that to new york and then this weekend, large events expected in philadelphia. thank you so much for watching. i'm kate snow. richard lui picks up our coverage right now.

i'm richard lui. on this monday, we have got some breaking news to share with us, republican scott walker dropping out of the presidential race. he is scheduled to give a press conference in just about 60 minutes. plus, the pope's visit to the u.s. is just hours away as well, but he spent today in cuba. what he did there plus what he will be doing here tomorrow. latest on the fallout from ben carson's con strollers comments about a muslim in the white house. first off though, nbc news confirming wisconsin governor scott walker dropping out of the 2016 presidential race. this makes walker the second republican to drop out of the race after governor rick perry. his campaign has scheduled a news conference tonight at 6 p.m. eastern in madison, wisconsin. now, a walker supporter telling the "new york times," the short answer here is money, when asked why the governor is ending his campaign. walker has also seen a full from grace in the polls a new cnn poll showing walker tied in last place among