or was going the wrong meant his legacy here.ll being, is till with an older pope, change comes more quickly. leon: you have been watching this longer than i have, but and millerience years of journalistic coverage onen't think i have seen get off to this start. the kind of good will that is built upon his charisma and comingectations of the air. the breath of fresh this is something i don't think i've ever seen. the is important for church. the churche here had been dealing with the difficult sex abuse scandal. were saying they hee criticized him because didn't done much on that yet.

but now it's in the background. everyone is talk about the thing and the change of the tone, the change of the atmosphere now. greta: exactly. positiveo much more now. i don't know if anyone expected that when they selected him but that is what got. greta: he is reframing the discussion. he might say some of the same because he hasn't teaching.urch home should realize that as well but he has changed it so it's compassionate. looking at the spirit behind the law. not just wagging your finger it. that is the fresh air that people needs to know. he used the words getting away the obsession with sexual issues. socialore into the issues than i think a lot of people care about and getting to do the streets something about it. i think it's less polarizing. alison: there are a lot of opportunities for him to

address or not to address a lot of the different issues while he is here. is waiting to see exactly what he will do. one of the places we will visit soon the basilica. our jonathan elias is standing by as even waits for the next steps. jonathan? jonathan: the pope made such a statement on the tarmac at joint base andrews. in his exhortations at the vatican when he talk about the church, the cardinals, the bishop, everybody has to lead by example. he leads by example without saying anything. getting into a fia tab. he could have any car made in the world by any manufacturer, ferrari or a lamborghini. he wants a fiat. to live simply. that is his message when he talked to the bishops and the cardinals about but everything else. want to bring in father brown, rector at the theological college. you met the pope before, pope francis. you spoke to him in italian he struggles in english. what did he do?

>> he responded to me in was veryhich gracious. his english was somewhat halting but he took the meuble to try to speak to in english and that made me comfortable and warm and to thehis hospitality people. jonathan: a short time ago i heard leon on the set and they were talking in the studio of the things going on within the church. the church has always been structured. francis seems to be somebody that is outside the structure a little making sure that everybody beneath him, cardinal, the bishops the previouses and even the smaller sanctuaries that they understand you need to embrace people and bring them in and forgive them. father: yes. in a structured organization or community, it's very easy to lose realizeive and not that that structure can also trap. or set up walls. gatedght see a community where you never encounter the people who live outside of that life of

privilege. pope francis maintains that perspective and the majority are concernedwe with in the church don't live in a gated community, they don't live in the structure. out there trying to live their lives so to have that perspective makes it possible i think for him to realize. we need to step outside of the structure sometimes to really walk with the people reach them.le to he uses that image. the important thing is walk ath the people like shepherd walks with his flock. jonathan: he has no trouble talking about controversial issues, clergy abuse, abortion, divorce. this is the kind of thing he talks about. he talked about abortion, not a time to excommunicate, it's and bring them back and the excommunication with divorce. that used to be standard operating procedure but not so much anymore. talk about what it means to have that structure and those said by the pope.

father: in some ways i think when you allude to the sexual abuse crisis and some of those things in the church, again, touch with the best of wisdomdition and our of centuries of working with people. one of the parts of the wisdom of the church for instance we -- sacramentack called reconciliation. when we only hide ourselves and never tell someone it and we inside of us find it impossible to heal. we have to break out of the intuition and tenet to not be outspoken to let people know and name the truth happened.s that is pope francis. we have to acknowledge that needs to be cured. this is the unfortunate and

egregious that it festered within the church. it was broken wide open. now he said we can't deny it. out to peoplech who have been hurt and help to heal them. that is the only way the church will be healed of the horrible wound we suffered by hiddengoing into a mode and trying to circle the wagon in a sense rather than get it out of the open and deal with the problem. that is an excellent quality especially the catholic church. jonathan: when you see and what you have heard in the last six month what is the pope has done with the topics he is addressing and the way he is addressing them, is it for you?g does it change the game for you? what is it doing? father: it's liberating in this sense -- and i believe the pope said this. at aest way to arrive good solution and good understanding of the truth is to talk about it. the open it out in and share differing,

contrasting views about it even by people with strong views. pope francis says there is nothing we won't talk about it. it will lead us to the truth and the truth will set us free. he has given a breath of fresh people to say don't be afraid to talk about what concerns you. talkingsn't mean that about it will necessarily change some fundamental teaching of the church but it says we will try to understand reach your everyday experience, not just the abstract doctrine we try to by. jonathan: are you least bit surprised he is getting rock the united here in states? father: not at all. as far as i'm concerned he is me. than a rock star to jonathan: last thing. looking over your shoulder at basilica, a magnificent church. one of the biggest in the world, in the top ten. are you excited to show this off? the pope has never seen it before.

pope francis never been here before. showr: i'm excited to this off. i look out my office window every morning. view.an: not a bad father: not a bad view. i see the basilica of the the immaculate precipitation. -- they have done conception. and they have done a wonderful job. this is dedicated to the immaculate conception with mary, mother of god. is dedicated to mary and what a wonderful thing to celebrate with pope francis in basilicause at the of the shrine of the immaculate conception. jonathan: thank you for your insight. i appreciate that. exciting day with the polanding in the d.c. area. exciting tomorrow when he basilica to celebrate mass. ♪ ♪ leon: one of the most events of this year and maybe in the lives of

many of the catholic community finallyregion underway. pope francis arrived here with the historic visits to the u.s.. alison: exciting moment for young and old. let's go back out to joint base andrews. the pope landed a little more than an hour ago. there for it all was our suzanne kennedy. hi, suzanne. suzanne: i can tell you it was of pomp and circumstance that pope francis was welcomed here at joint base andrews. his first time in the united states. andplane arrived at 3:45 it is still here. he left here a half hour or so ago. we want to tell you when he arrived here there were about a thousand people, school children and dignitaries. theyve video of them as waited on either side of the tarmac for the holy father to arrive. children from about 23 schools archdiocese of washington, the local high

school band, other people, catholic and non-catholics who came to see pope afternoon.ive ts afterwards, after he left and the president left we got to talk to people to get their take on seeing the holy father here this afternoon. >> it's a once in a lifetime experience. it kind of touches you. something like that. sorry. my daughter is here. coming i guess. to comes wonderful and witness the arrival of the pope. crowd.ay, great suzanne: absolutely great day and a great crowd. as i looked around in the father wase holy coming off the plane i saw just enormous smiles on young and old alike. who looked forward to

this day, had anticipated it. some people thought it would here it wasnd this afternoon. they got to see the leader of catholic church. he met with the president and vice president, michelle obama and their children and a couple of the biden grand children. meeting lasted ten minutes or so. then we saw the holy father ine back out on the tarmac perhaps one of the memorable images this afternoon was the holy father not getting into a vehicle, not getting gettingimb zone but go a small fiat with the license plate from vatican in the backseat and rolling down the window and he left in an entourage of theehicles to head to nunciature in northwest washington. fantastic day at joint base andrews. reporting live, suzanne kennedy, abc7 news. alison: all right, suzanne. you very much. so now the pope has arrived at nunciature near massachusetts avenue in

northwest where he will be staying while he is here in the washington area. leon: that's right. we saw quite a scene there as the fiat rolled up in front of it a moment ago. standing by now nunciature. the jay? jay: boy, leon, what a moment to see the little small four-door black shiny fiat pull up and see one of the great world leaders step out it. he carry himself with humility. walk humbly with god is about.ng he talks he turned to the students, i will step this way so you can see the remainder of the students still here. these are the school children the various diocese and schools and parishes across the washington, d.c. region. they are slowly being ushered out. were here to greet the popes and different groups of children in groups of 200 will him every time he comes and goes -- will greet him every time he comes and go. in cheers and they have been chanting and

singing for the last couple of hours as they waited for him. he turn and waved to them very gently. i'm not sure if he said anything or spoke to them but it was a remarkable moment. he spent a few minutes looking and then turn and nunciatuer the where he will sleep and eat for the next couple days as he aepares for what will be remarkable journey through the washington area. meets with the president and joint meeting of congress. funny moment was literally cardinal for this area went to the crowd of children, speaking with them and shaking their hands. they were very polite and they were so excited and so delighted but i could see a tople of children saying the cardinal, "could you please go back inside to the nuiature to see if the pope come out." the cardinal lit up.

not sure what he said but he as well.d left it's dying down here as the pope is retiring for the evening to get some rest. you a quick look to go off the tripod 100 feet on the other side of it. public hasre the been sequestered. security for pope foremost. first and the public is kept in that area. bull't know if that is a horn or someone is singing or chanting but we can hear something in the distance. we know there are several hundred, maybe more than a therend people back hopeful to get a glance which may have as pope francis came to vatican embassy. the coming days as he heads

off to the various locations we here at abc7 news will be childrenee him greet i doubt any of them were disappointed. they would have loved him to it's a crowd but moment they will never forget that. is the story here from northwest washington. jay korff, abc7 news. leon: keep your eyes and your ears open. if you see him come outside we sceneo get to immediately. hard to believe they will go home disappointed. you need tickets to the papal events taking place in d.c. do thers decided to next best thing, find a spot to see the pope's motorcade as by.asses sam ford is with folks that did just that this afternoon. sam? leon, we are here along suitland parkway where it under alabama avenue.

minutes ago there were a number of people here watching the various motor cades go -- motorcade go by. the motorcade of the vice president coming from andrews to the city. francis comepope by. a number of people out there. we were all looking for black vatican flag on it. eventually we saw it. people were cheering here. one point the pope i understand stuck his hand out the window and waved at some upple who had signs greeting the pope and city.ing him to the wasidn't know what way he coming. the secret service wouldn't announce it. logical routehe because it's the quickest way to get to joint base andrews. typically if the presidents can't fly in marine one helicopter this is the way they generally come and this happened. the vice president, the pope and finally president obama came back by. that was it. you can see now traffic is

flowing here again on suitland parkway which is a major out offor traffic downtown washington to the maryland suburbs. so people i'm sure are glad that they can do that. a lot of people were happy the the pope's vehicle if not the pope himself. beginning of an exciting three capital.he nation's reporting live in washington, sam ford, abc7 news. alison: okay, sam. thank you. so traffic is flowing there. but the pope's arrival in d.c. rush hourhe evening of course. so let's get a check on how it looks right now. in thessey is live mobile track 7. what are you seeing? allyson, we had bad news as far as the traffic goes the last time i talked to you. now i have good news. out the view out the front of the mobile track 7 here. you can see if anything this turned into a better than normal rush hour.

the road closures for pope francis and president obama were rough. they caused trouble. but now it's over, we are at 12th street and i at a red light. show you the view out the back of the vehicle here. that not a many cars as you would sometimes see downtown at this hour. it's probably better than normal at this point. my goodness i hope it will so in the next few days. so many roads will be shut down for the pope, that is unlikely. appear like a lot of folks took the advice early of maybe either telecommuting they left maybe work early. overall not a bad rush hour at this point. the worst of it is definitely with the motorcade now with. for that reason it seems to be okay. there are a lot of cars here but we are moving. 12th and k heading north in northwest. up j -- update as far as the rush hour traffic it's going. leon: amazing. thank you, tom.

some might attribute that as a miracle. no gridlock with the disruptions and the motorcade security core around the area. we'll keep an eye on that. we want you to keep an eye on during theyou see papal visit. anything that you see around town connected to it. if you see something that looks great or interesting, take a shot of it. send it to us. pics@wjla.com. be careful. don't do it while you're driving. pictures youny can take of the papal visit and we'll try to share everything with the photo at wjla.com. alison: now back to northeastern d.c. franciscan monastery is holding a pope arrival watch party. cut: they have a pope out, life-size. stephen tschida is live with the festivities. there, stephen. stephen: oh, crazy, leon. pouring of people into this monetary.

right through those doors behind me. gathered.ere they and when the pope's plane came into view on the live feed were watching, a lot of excitement. let's go to it. cheering and the hear the cheering. people were so excited with what they were seeing and what they were witnessing. so many of them talking about how moving a moment it is. in just to have the pope america, but here in their neighborhood. distancest a short from the shrine, the national shrine of the immaculate will hold, where he the outdoor mass. a lot of excitement. we caught up with one of the the 16 friars who lives here at this monastery. we got his reaction to the coming to d.c. friar: i think it's very exciting. the more people we talk to, the more exciting they sound. excitement, it just builds on it.

when did you ever expect the come to your neighborhood? usually you have to go to the airport and go to see him. he's coming here. think this is great. stephen: a lot of people think it's great. lot of people we talked to said they never thought a pope as popular as pope francis to the united states, to d.c. after benedict several years ago. again to have a pope here was very moving for so many people here at this monastery. reporting live, stephen tschida, abc7 news. leon: all right, teach. stephen.ll right, look at this scene there. we were so worried about the weather for the visits. thingng maybe the last we need is rain and we had some yesterday. not too bad today. alison: started out dreary at the beginning of the week so everyone wonders how will it of the pope'st visit around d.c. chief meteorologist doug hill has a look. doug: we had it under control

all day long. we thought it was a cloudy start and sunshine by the time plane landed at andrews and that is what happened. we are in good shape. look at the national wheel, national harbor. clearing skies. same view outside the windows at the belfort furniture weather center in rosslyn. is a pleasant night. 74 at reagan. 70 in annapolis. 71 right now as joint base andrews. numbers tonight, drop to lower 50's. -- partlyuddy cloudy skies. we have partly to mostly sunny 80 degrees for the day on thursday. we couldn't ask for better conditions.her by the time we get to friday, the return. by the weekend we have to talk that. it's cool and cloudy for the weekend and maybe rain. we will talk about that in detail. it's gorgeous outside with the

temperatures in the 70's. alison: wonderful. all right, doug. thank you so much. still to come on the special edition of the "abc7 news at 5:00" -- mission accomplished for dozens of people determined to pope'sd.c. for the visit. a look at their incredible journey. >> this is about bringing women together. sharing our stories. inspired by pope francis' message.

snee inspired by the pope's message of compassion, more marched tomen washington. they hope he will address immigration in the trip. the marchers left the detention center last week and arrived in washington this afternoon. joined on the final leg of the members of casa. >> the pilgrimage is about bringing women together, lifting our spirits, sharing our stories and being inspired francis' message and we hope he will be inspired by

us as well. prayedhe marchers outside the basilica where the pope will deliver mass tomorrow. manned for mcpherson square later tonight. alison: pope's visit to d.c. can imagine is expensive. it is expected to cost millions of dollars in protection. leon: "7 on your side" government investigator chris papst looks into the numbers join us now with what he found. chris: it's not too often that a pope comes to america or even d.c. his arrival was given a designation to put secret service in charge and the pope's trip and charge to taxpayers is not being released. in may, the pope's visit was destination ited a national special security event. that designation is rare and usually reserved for events like the olympics and inaugurations. it means the feds usually foot the bill. when the federal budget for type of event at $4.5

not be enough. the protect the pope the secret service will get he f.b.i., capital politics, coast guard, fema and the national police. pope's visit costs a lot it also generates a lot. according to destination d.c. visited thenedict capitol in 2008, 95% of the booked.el rooms were compare that to president obama's 2013 inauguration were 81%. >> we are prepared for the heads of state to visit. there is a cost associated ish it but the cost outwayed by the people in the hotels and it having restaurants and spending money in washington, d.c. chris: the secret service is not saying how much the pope's visit cost d.c. we know when the holy father goes to philly that city be $12ed the cost to

million but the world leading were reemimbursed for the costs -- reimbursed for the costs. can't let you go. chris papst. interesting tidbit about your last name. chris: a fun fact i don't get to use. papst means "pope" in german. papst, pasadena p-a-s-t, you get the pope.f his german twitter account is papst francis. tweeted that out a short while ago. alison: you are a special correspondent with a special the name. to leon: don't make bar bets with this guy. you won't win one. alison: thank you. leon: all right. pope, thank you. our coverage of pope francis continues in a few minutes on news at 5:00". alison: we will take a full look at the schedule ahead for the pontiff in d.c. will stay with us.

leon: the pontiff. not chris papst.

announcer: you're watching "abc7 news at 5:00". on your side. alison: after months of anticipation and preparation, francis has arrived in the u.s.

a couplearrived hours ago at joint base andrews where he was greeted by president obama, the first as their daughters and vice president biden, his wife several members of their family. from there they traveled to nunciature in northwest. the pope doesn't have any events this evening but there is plenty ahead in the next couple of days here. get a rundown of the pope's schedule for the week. brad bell is live at the basilica with more on what we can expect. hi, brad. brad: hey there. 4:15 tomorrow afternoon is pope will perform a mass, canonization mass. the first time in the united elevate toill saint status junipero serra, a missionary, spanish franciscan who opened missions, catholic missions in 1700's.ia in the want to show you what is

going on here. the altar getting finishing touches. this has been growing throughout the day. they have added the beautiful yellow and white flowers and front and chair center. in keeping with everything he seems to be believe in. it's a simple, humble chair. it's an elegant piece of furniture. is where all eyes will be. 25,000 people out here tomorrow afternoon to see this event. you have to have a ticket. tickets have all been distributed. many of them to people who are parishioners in catholic churches in our region. a lot of them have been coming peektoday to get a sneak in advance. we talked to one young man who is actually a student here at catholic university. he is from crofton. listen to what he had to say to him.at this means >> we have been preparing for a week and a half. the university praying for

coming here. for the holy father. brad: he says it will make his entire college career. it's that big to him. listening to beautiful music all day long. starting up again. the rehearsal for the 400 will bes who performing out here tomorrow afternoon. we are hearing a chorale group right here now. been spectacular. the mood is bright, it's very light. the polanded in the united states the bells joyded here in the carlon lousily. happy sight. tomorrow is busy and crowded joyous.ill be from the national shrine of the immaculate conception, brad bell, abc7 news. alison: one more note. the altar that pope francis will use in the visits was carpenter local

specifically for this bishop. kahounc deacon david built 16 pieces including the altar. he is a life-long carpenter who also built the altar for pope benedict's mass at 2008.als park in >> it's the highlight of my life to build an altar, to carpentry aspect together with the aspect of serving at the altar. amazing. it for the holy father is over the top. alison: they designed it to resemble the columns in the upper churches of the basilica where it will permanently reside and it has been painted to look like real marble. leon: a local restaurant and bar is celebrating pope francis' arrival with beer or two. pope to welcoming the the neighborhood by offering a welcome religious theme beer menu. the restaurant will open up at 7:00 a.m. for breakfast.

presumably before mass. the restaurant is a block from the basilica and it should be active around there. no beer with breakfast. hopefully. leon: not before church. please. folks.ht, stay with abc7 and wjla.com. we will have complete coverage of the pope's visit. than 40 hours of coverage planned on abc7. and our sister station, newschannel8. alison? alison: moving on to other news this afternoon. opening statements have the child sex abuse child of michael gardner. falls church democratic leader charged with two counts of aggravated axual battery for molesting girl in 2009. the girl was 12 at the time. she did not report the a therapist until last year, two years after convicted in a separate molestation case. the supreme court threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial. terryvery governor mcauliffe confirms they will the arrestort in

of university johnson. he was left bloodied and anded stitches after arrest by state alcohol control agents in march. at first, governor mcauliffe release the state investigation report because it was a personnel record but now the decision has been reversed. loudoun county board of supervisors appointed supervisor for the bratrun district. bonnfeld will fill the role held by williams after he assaulting aer neighbor. a long-time member of the parks and recreation board. leon: coming up at 5:00, more fall-out from volkswagen after discovery of worldwide emissions throng. taking white house is action against the auto maker. >> an 81-year-old woman accusedts a group of thieves. i'm kevin lewis in silver springs

josh: good evening. i'm meteorologist josh knight. let's talk about the weather we know will be good. early for the parade and it's cool to start off. high of 80 degrees tomorrow. little above average. partly cloudy skies. more.ask for much fast forward into the weekend and we will watch for rain chances. 74 on saturday. 73 on sunday. cooler than it has been the mostly cloudy skies that are going to be the general rule for us. if there is a day we are more likely to see rain right now it looks like sunday. eye on the system and hope it stays south. i would make some backup plans now in case we get some of

leon: in montgomery county, are peoplethere who are thieves out there. lewis has the story. >> he claims he was with the

roofing company. kevin: this 81-year-old woman was credited with outsmarting a pack of accused thieves. according to police, 34-year-old joseph knocked on them with's front door roofing company. kevin: and wasmed that her roof leaking water. >> once he got in, he said oh there was thick black, awful smoke in the attic. kevin: suspicious, the woman neighbor. a montgomery county police officer. checklick and the two allegedly just $2800 a frivolous repair when the officers arrived. >> his first reaction was to stopped.then he they just shook their heads. okay, we have been caught again. kevin: a licensed contractor later inspected the roof and in perfect be condition. this great grandmother dismayed with what she a lapse of basic values. >> i just doesn't make sense do it.ow they can over rapid over and over again -- over and over and thinggain and for one not be locked up. they shouldn't be out on the street. are just cheating people constantly.

kevin: according to court documents the accused ring leader joseph checklick has a lengthy criminal record including multiple counts of fraud. police say some people never learn. springs, i'm kevin lewis, abc7 news. alison: still ahead at 5:00 -- to doagen scrambling damage control over an emissions scandal. the company's l

alison: more fallout today for volkswagen. american drivers are filing lawsuits against the world's after ituto maker admitted to deliberatery faking a emissions -- emissionsly faking tests. cars have been recalled in the u.s. apologizing. is brandi hitt has more. -- brandi: volkswagen is now admitting control. the ceo admitting he is sorry dieselhey admitted the vehicles are fitted with software to allow them to fake thesions tests, including make and models sold in the

u.s. angry drivers are filing lawsuits. >> i don't know how to trust a company that went out of their way to lie. behind the company slogan "truth in engineering" admit the controls limiting to the emissions and without automatically switch on and after the test the controls switched off. concerned about the report we have seen. this is the responsibility by to take a look at it. brandi: it cast a shadow on the new passat. volkswagen could face criminal charges and $1 billion in federal fines. volkswagen set aside $17 billion to cover the fallout. the largest auto maker has ordered all of the u.s. dealerships to stop theing cars impacted by

legislation. leon: now time to check on the roads. everyone wondering how bad it will get. lot ofwe see a congestion a while ago. area.the d.c. d.c. police have temporary closures in place on pennsylvania avenue as well area ong in the con -- as well as in the area constitution area. we are in bumper-to-bumper traffic. on 66 heading out of the city arlington torom falls church. it's as soon as you get to the capital beltway to 123 is where we have a crash. that is why we are seeing that congestion. on the inner loop and the outer loop for virginia, bumper to bumper delays. 11e spot you drop down to miles per hour. i want to focus on what we have now. spectators in the area of suitland parkway near alabama

avenue. because of that police have shut it down. that is going on right now. really the only closure that we have in place in that area parkway,tland pennsylvania avenue is now open. forfor afield -- garfield and fulton street. this area you should avoid until thursday afternoon. that is a look at traffic. back to you. leon: all right. we'd like to avoid bad weather to thursday or friday. maybe friday afternoon. alison: right! it sounds like we are going to. at least today is spectacular, doug. nicelyt has turned on with the sun returning this afternoon. sunshine and warm temperatures tomorrow. turny will start to cloudy and cooler. is from john champe high school in aldie. the clouds come in. you think it won't break up 1:00 or 2:00 it started to clear and turned into a beautiful day. the winds now out of the north little bit.a 69 degrees.

fredericksburg. heading to the everything hours, it's diminishing cloud cover. theas worked out on schedule as we hoped and figured out. high pressure now in control days. next couple of by friday, high pressure moves out it looks like the clouds will roll back in. larger issue trying to figure out based on a computer modeling whether or not some of the rain south is going to push north. we have seen tuesday tomorrow thethursday its will keep winds out of the northeast. that will keep the rain at the arm's length. we get through friday and saturday, saturday to sunday. high collides more than east -- slides more east, it could might open the door enough to open rain in the area. a lot of things to watch. you know it's beautiful tomorrow. this.t systemly warm all day for

all -- seasonally warm for all activities, the parade and the mass. everything is good to go. 80 at mass time. afternoon.ow the next seven days uncertainty introduced into the weekend with chance of shower saturday and sunday with the cooler temperatures. we kind of settle into fall tomorrow. leon, alison and erin? alison: thank you. leon: erin is going to tell us pope's visite disrupting things for the college athletes around here. e. that is right. catholic university. pope will be there tomorrow. they have been working on this for months. scheduled to celebrate mass. shut down.will be we spoke to the student athletes. though the schedule is affected the students say it's worth it. if last few days have been very, very hectic. foryone is getting ready the pope. erin: at catholic university athletic department is primed for pope francis.

>> excited. >> electric. >> crazy. excited. erin: many of the student athletes are fortunate to have tickets for tomorrow's mass. >> my mom is coming down. i'm excited to see her. for her.icket i called my parents and told them i got a ticket. me. were excited for erin: they got in the spirit community spirit. their walk with francis. >> we went to the park and cleaned up. with the poped with the idea we're part of something bigger than ourselves. majors, listen up. the last time pope visited, benefitedll team big time. >> after the pope visit we had to win out the conference game playoffs.e erin: current assistant coach playericardo was a then. >> in the games we scored double-digit runs. the bat came alive after pope showed up. we won -- pope francis showed up. we won ten straight.

erin: the power of the pope. players to to the make sure they get over there have and be a part of it, history.t's erin: maybe the pope can help all the teams like the nationals. leon: talk about blessing metro. if he just blesses the bats. erin: there you go. it worked before. works. it thank you. leon: still ahead on "abc7 news at 5:00" -- time more first than 70 female veterans from world war ii, korean and the part in ans took all female honor flight. we will hear from some of

alison: this is the first kind of its event. all female honor flight. on the flightn paid a visit to d.c. today. diane cho was there for a trip.l diane: reminiscing about what it's like when they joined. >> when i went in, they told us we could choose where we wanted to go. these women are veterans of warii, korean and

vietnam war. i lo and behold, what did get? in the army nurse corps in the vietnam war. >> i took care of a lot of young men. burns, pretty bad burns. reno was part of the first ever honor flight. >> we did the job the men did overseasns could go but they were never honored. somethingo make that happened. diane then senior veteran prepared with the younger serveds some of whom in iraq and afghanistan. >> it's amazing what the young to do.ave

in military service at the memorial. diane cho. "abc7: that is it for news at 5:00". our coverage of pope francis in america continues right now news at 6:00". announcer: "abc7 news at 6:00". side.r [cheering] leon: it has been two hours before he arrived at joint base andrews on the first trip ever. we are leading the way on the coverage of the visit. reporters are positioned the area. jonathan elias leads the coverage from theological college in northeast washington. jonathan? jonathan: you can see the afternoon.is touched down the bells

rang for five minutes. when the pope's foot touched tarmac they rang for five minutes. everybody is excited the pope is here to pay a visit. he is doing on his schedule call a little down time. he is after all 78 years old and needs quiet time after traveling here from cuba. jay korff is over at the vatican embassy where we start coverage tonight. jy? jay: it's a busy schedule. cuba. in from the crowds disbursed from the nunciature, the vatican embassy. feelou can't help but the eck his trity that ran through the grounds of the vatican embassy as pope into theulled up fiat the the small pope talks about walking humbly and how to treat other people and how to