>> from abc 7 news, this is a breaking news alert. howard county, an explosion in columbia sets townhomes on fire, forcing people from their homes. the good news is everybody is accounted for. two people are injured. we are there now on the scene,

gathering new information about how this happened. we will have a live report coming up later. other we turn to the major story of the day, history made in the district, pope francis speaking alongside president obama, marking an iconic white house meeting. alison: and a procession in front of thousands, connecting with faithful. leon: and a mass that will be remembered forever, a command is asian -- a canonization at the national basilica. , toill hear from the crowd a little girl hand delivered letter to the point. and the delivery a message of tolerance. we are covering every angle of the pope's visit. we begin with jonathan elias. jonathan: good evening from the basilica. it was a tremendous day, and pope francis had a packed schedule. today we got a good example of why he is called the people

's pope. he walked out, started shaking hands, and it is easy to see why he is so warmly loved. the strong desire to meet and connect with people, taking special care to reach out to people, wave to followers, and shake hands, literally walking away from security to greet people. theght he celebrated canonization mass at the immaculate shrine of the conception, history and the making, and tonight he is back in the vatican embassy getting some much-needed rest. keep in mind he is 78 years old and he is running a schedule that most 20-year-old would have a tough time doing. tom roussey is at the vatican embassy, where the pope is hopefully at this time sleeping. tom? guess is he is, but we don't know for sure. this is a 24-hour operation, security over both shoulders. the lights are the front door to the vatican embassy, where the pope is here tonight.

he was greeted by a very large crowd after a very long day. tonight, pope francis arrives back at the vatican embassy for the night, a crowd of local catholic schoolchildren greeting him. on the other side of massachusetts avenue, hundreds cramped together for one of their last chances to see the pope before he leaves d.c. >> so happy. tom: this family traveled all the way from san diego to see the first latin american pope. >> he speaks are like which and he is the people's pope. >tom: earlier at the basilica, e led a mass to canonize a saint. the selection was controversial. fromope defended sarah critics who say he mistreated native americans. >> he defended the dignity of

the native key minute a. visit is going by fast, just part of one day left, but memories that will last longer. >> i felt like he is so close, we have to visit. >> it's exciting to see the pope in town. at the vatican embassy, three more chances to see the pope. he is scheduled to leave at 8:45, 12:45 he is scheduled to return, and at 3:30 he is leaving again, not coming back, flying on to new york city tomorrow afternoon. live tonight in northwest along massachusetts avenue, tom roussey, abc 7 news. jonathan: for the thousands who waited in line to see the pope and the thousands who watched at home from the television, there was a tangible joy, excitement that you do not often see in the district. this is often a city finding

ways to find divisions, whether political or religious, you name it, but today it was nice to see everybody coming together. reaching for the youngest americans. and meeting with the most powerful. sky the backdrop of the now iconic fiat that up to the white house. president obama: on behalf of the american people come it is my great honor and privilege to welcome you to the united states of america. jonathan: there were moments where he spoken english. he spoke of religious freedom, mercy for refugees, and climate change. pope francis: mr. president, i find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution. jonathan: after the meeting, the first sighting of the famous mobile, pope francis waving, pathetic, reaching, giving a thumbs out to the crowd of thousands.

the destination, st. matthew's cathedral for a prayer service with the nations bishops. >> horse and divisive language does not befit our shepherd. jonathan: memorable times of the and today the iconic image of the pope reaching out and picking up the five-year-old girl along the procession route. during the brady, a little five-year-old girl from california got out from the gate and ran towards the procession. the procession immediately stopped, security try to intercept, but then they pick the little girl i been brought her over to the pope. renae ms. sophia cruz. she wanted to give the pope a letter. she got picked up, blessed and kissed on the cheek. her fears that her immigrant parents would be sent back to mexico. she also gave the pope a cartoon

drawing that she made and a t-shirt. after he kissed her and blessed are coming she was taken back by security, back to her father on the other side of the barricade. from the people lined the route's just trying to get a glimpse or take a pitcher of the pope or shake his and, so many have reasons for being here, whether healing or inspiration. caps on a group of people lining the route. they have some inspirational stories. these people eagerly waiting behind this railing are preparing for a special moment. >> i hope to give a flower to pope francis. chris: what would you say to them? >> god bless you. chris: this particular group is not your average. >> very excited to meet him. it's a great honor, it would be amazing. chris: this is the national catholic worship on disabilities, a group of inspiring men , women, and

children who serve all180 catholic dioceses across america. they gathered along 4th street this afternoon to see the pope. whilee finally drove by, directly in front of this group, the pope stood, waved, edit knowledge them come in remarkable moment for this pastor and his dog, galahad. >> i think he is a man of very deep faith. --be that close to them chris: what is it like with this group of people? >> it's nice because you feel like everybody is in the same boat. chris: earlier today, before he drove by, the illogical college held a special mass for the national catholic partnership on disability as a thank you for all the group does. chris papst, abc 7 news. jonathan: tomorrow is pope francis' last day in the

district. you will be delivering a speech before the houses of congress tomorrow. -- he will be delivering a speech before both houses of congress tomorrow. he will also be serving food to the homeless. after that he will go to the vatican embassy, his home in the district. he will think everybody, then wheels up at 4:00 in the afternoon, heading to new york and then philadelphia. he is 78 years old, and in the next five days he has 20 speeches to deliver. a tough schedule, but he seems to feed off the energy of everybody. jonathan elias, abc 7 news. back to you. you, jonathan. back to the breaking news we mentioned at the program in massive, maryland, a fire triggered by a reported explosion at a townhouse complex. crews have rescued one person from the scene. that is where richard reeve joins us live. he has the latest on what looks like a very scary situation, richard. richard: leon, a very dramatic

scene. some ofe, you can see the structures, at least one of these townhomes completely collapsed. it is still smoking. they say 4, 5 buildings were affected by the explosion. the authorities saying that at about 7:30, they got a call of an odor of natural gas. an inspector came out to check it, he worked from a truck that is near the scene. he went back to his truck and the blast occurred. witnesses say the debris flew all over, all over the neighborhood, blowing off windows, blowing outdoors. all the way across the street. let's listen. >> it sounded like a heavy explosion. we knew it was not an earthquake, no vibration, so i figured it was a maybe a gas explosion. >> it looks like a war zone. investigators still on

the scene, trying to confirm this was a natural gas explosion. gely two people hurt, the b inspector who was thrown because of the blast and a nearby woman who and smoke inhalation issues. stuff like this blown all over the neighborhood, the force of this blast. the authorities will have a long night. richard reeve, abc 7 news. ascene.believable coming up, a big shakeup in the consumer world. stepped the ceo ofvw down amid a scandal. brian: 67 downtown, but cooler in the suburbs.

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] 7 on your side with a consumer alert, volkswagen's ceo martin amongkorn has resigned

a scandal. they have software there can evade an emissions test. wiped outts have been for year. the stock has lost a third of its value since the scandal broke. alison: hackers stole the fingerprints of 5.6 million former and current government employees and contractors. the office of personnel management said the data was stolen during the first of two large hacks. the disclosure comes days before president obama will meet with the chinese president. china is believed to be responsible for those hacks. leon: you can now watch 360 degree videos on facebook. the first have videos of "star wars," "saturday night live," and from go pro. you'd started supporting 360 degree videos in march.

just what we need. 360 views of the weather cast. alison: playing the vienna. how about the weather, gorgeous. brian: it was an amazing day for ope, just an awesome day. the sad thing is once he is out of town, the weather turns downhill. we have they shot right after the mass, from the vantage point across the street, doing live shots. just an amazing shot, just before sunset. we love that are, also shot. 80 degrees today. 80 degrees this afternoon after a morning low of 60. sunset down at 7:04, back up at 6:57. thanks to van for the shot. 67, county 54, andrews still a little warmer in the city. the western zones, western

portions, low 50's tonight, 56 in frederick, winchester. leesburg 56, rockville in frederick both in the low 50's. it will be a cool evening. today, let's of sunshine, a few high cloud streaming overhead. not a big deal. but there is unsettled weather churning down here off the carolinas. through the hand of the week, towards the upcoming weekend, the clouds get closer. still tomorrow for the pope tomorrow afternoon as he addresses congress come even as he has out of andrews to new york city, but by friday we moved back into the clouds. friday, more overcast, mid-70's. .e may have a sprinkle possible heading deeper into the weekend, saturday, sunday, better likelihood of showers and cooler temperatures.

there is still some disparity how this will pan out. the bottom line for the weekend, cooler, grayer, shower possibilities. 80 tomorrow, perfect for the pope's last day in d.c. the next seven days, nice weather, one more day, then we transition friday through the weekend, saturday and sunday, both near 70 at best. a fair amount of cloudiness. showers likely saturday and sunday. maybe into early next week. alison: fall is off to a good start. francis brought us good weather. how about sports, robert? marys, wecouple hail should be fine, right? sports is coming up.

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toyota sports desk, brought to you by your local toyota dealers. of the the battle beltway's continued tonight on south capital. after losing last night to the orioles, every game from now on will affect the playoff. mannyith the lead until machado unloads on max scherzer, home run number 30. o's take the 4-3 lead. jonathan papelbon, machado back at the plate. it's a little crazy, almost beans him. jonathan papelbon gets ejected. 4-3, and remain 6.5 games behind the mets. baseball lost another legend today, yankees hall of fame catcher yoga be era -- yogi berra died today at 90.

and 14 all-star, during world series as a member of the yankees, winning 10 of them. we have lost a great american. the first prime time battle of the season for the redskins. they left for new york to take on eli manning and the giants in the thursday night matchup. last season, eli torched the redskins. three touchdowns -- four touchdowns, new york embarrassing the redskins 45-14. the last time the skins beat the giants in new york, it was 2011 . of the better quarterbacks in this league. i think it's him and he will be in canton. he is definitely on the short list. hopefully i can get a couple more wins under my belt. i like my chances in the locker

room. robert: the mexican soccer league. the goalie gets the save, everything's all good, this happens. oops. that counts as a goal. leon: oh, no. robert: mama always said use your head, you can achieve goals. it happens, poor guy. eli's last game against the fourins, 315 yards, touchdowns. leon: look at it this way, he has never played these redskins. robert: exactly. leon: different regime. alison: thinking positive. coming up next, how about this joyful reunion? ♪

♪ (vo) you can pass down a subaru forester. (dad) she's all yours. (vo) but you get to keep the mories. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. alison: the world will be

watching win pope francis addresses congress tomorrow. that is the top trending story on wjla.com. also, the head of volkswagen steps down amid a scandal.

and more beautiful fall weather tomorrow. read that forecast and more at wjla.com. during his trip to the white house, the pope met the youngest members of the obama family. the white house photographer pete souza captured this photo of the pope petting sonny and beau. they were on their best behavior. or yellow stains, worked out fine. another good dog story that will make you smile. three years later, reunited and it feels so good. a cleveland soldier and his campania and served in afghanistan -- and his companion served in afghanistan. after several months of searching with organizations, they are back together. ranger is credited with saving more than a thousand lives during his time overseas. alison: there you go,two dog

stories in a row. does not get better than that.

alison: final word on the weather. brian: beautiful, equally nice tomorrow, 80 degrees. as of now, a change in the pattern, friday the clouds roll in. clouds, cooler temperatures, showers. may be a good weekend to be indoors and watch sports. next week, back into the mid and upper 60's. very nice day today and tomorrow lining up you to fall. alison: worked out well, thank you. leon: a great day to walk your cat, all you cat lovers.

alison: that was called "insincere." leon: that is it for us tonight. jimmy kimmel live is next. alison: we leave you with a powerful look back at today's papal appearances. have a wonderful evening. ♪

and now abc's "jimmy kimmel live." >> dicky: from hollywood, it's "jimmy kimmel live"! tonight, don johnson, james taylor, and celebrities read "mean tweets" live, with cleto and the cletones. and now, when all else fails, here's jimmy kimmel! [ cheers and applause ] ♪