repeated. and telling the bishops to welcome immigrants, that they'll enrich the nation and the church. and outside a small protest. he finished the day with another historic moment, canonizing the first u.s. saint on u.s. soil, a controversial franciscan priest who founded missions in california. and this often bitterly divided city, together in joy. >> i'm joined now by vice president of communications for the knights of columbus. well, today, the pope will address congress and this is the first pontiff ever to do so and he's going to do it in english as well. do you think he's going to but heads? >> he addressed the european parliament and when he addresses people, he tends to speak about

he is presenting a missionary proposal to people that should be taken to heart and he is trying to bring people a closer relationship with god. he's very happy to be here, obviously and i think he's going to say things to talk about the importance of human dignity but all of it is an invitation to us to look inside and see what we're doing. >> we know he's been a very strong advocate for climate change and dealing with the earth. do you think he's going to get his message across and how do you think that will effect the congress? >> i think he has a variety of messages and he has sort of a unify ied theory of what he's trying to present in terms of the way we interact with our environment. and what he's proposing is certain values.

the earth and have an ecological awareness and these are things that his predecessors have said. and there was a story about pope benedict being the green pope. so, he's really building on a fodiundation that has been there a long time. >> we know that he canonized this new -- i'm sorry. julio peresera. >> yes, he was canonized last night in washington d.c. and it's a really interesting story. he's somebody who left a very comfortable life behind in spain. he was tenure at a university, comes to new mexico and works as a missionary as a time and then bah baja, california and the european expansion was inevitable. and he was able to bring people

adjust to what was an inevitable caeall call olonize ation effort. and when california was taken over by the united states, the first governor of california actually went on a program of exterminating the indians. so, this sort of thing happened but it didn't happen in the missions in a way that some people think. >> the knights of the columbus, you produced a video and you're going to show that in madison square garden for mass. what would you add? >> i think that pope francis is someone who is consistent but always surprising and the consistency is he's always going to reach out and invite people to a relationship with god that's personal and important.

he really sees that as important and he's going to go from place to place bringing a message that people need accept personally and say, what is he trying to tell me and what kind of action can i take? i think he is a person who was in his mid to late 70s when elected pope. he had a very long record in the public of doing all of this missionary work, all of this out reach. i think all of that is going to continue. >> it's been an amazing trip so far and we look forward to new york and philadelphia. we appreciate it. thank you so much. turning now to politics, the feud between gop presidential candidate, donald trump and fox is back on. on twitter he writes, fox news has been treating me very unfairly and have therefore

fox news shows in the future. mean while, the new pole shows that marco rubio is poling ahead of jeb bush in their home state but jeb bush is still on top. and trump is winning among florida gop primary voters at 31.5% and marco rubio with just over 19%. they have announced the days and sid tes for the next debate. they will meet three times next year, on september 26th, october 9th in missouri and then october 19th at the university of nevada, las vegas. vice presidential candidates will meet just once on october 4th. according to a new gallop poll, 43% view the democratic party

favorably, versus 88% leaning towards the republican party and be sure to tune into meet the press. and they'll have a close up with hillary clinton. and bill karins is here with thursday's forecast. flash flooding is a concern. omaha had five inches of rain yesterday and it's going to pour again this morning. we're t king about upwards of six to seven inches of rain. we'll watch that over the next 12 hours. and it's a soggy one. hopefully a lot of these bands will move to the north and miss downtown omaha and avoid whats could be a very bad flooding situations and rains developing in the carolinas. possibilities of two to three inches, gusty winds and very dangerous rip currents up and down t

now a closer look at the day ahead. so, with all the clouds and cool temperatures there in the carolina carolinas, temperatures will still be very warm in texas and that rain in areas of nebraska will move to minnesota as we go throughout the afternoon. so, a soggy forecast for the carolinas for the next couple of days. well, netflix knows exactly what you're hooked on and certain series. and you're watching show hoe. when is your flu shot more than a flu shot? when it helps give a lifesaving vaccinehoe. oe. e. . to a child in need in a developing country. thanks to customers like you, walgreens "get a shot. give a shot." program has helped provide seven million vaccines. make your flu shot make a world of difference. walgreens. at the corner of

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this morning on "today" a preview of what pope francis is expected to say. an 8d one arizona family shared a

experienced after seeing the holy father in st. louis square. >> it seems really like it was meant to happen. sglrks >> reporte she stood in the poteuring rain. >> we were told that if we stood on a barricade in st. peter's square, if we were there in the front that the pope would come by in his pope mobile. >> reporter: their only intention to see pope francis. >> my husbaet scott tells her, up, like the lion kingatnd the pope came by and the secret service person, johnny sto ped and held her up to the pope and the hope asked my husband, how old is she and what's her name and he told him that she has two holes in her heart and when we

went back in may, one of the holes was totd ar closed and one was half the size. >> reporter: now the miracle baby is able to heal holes in others. they believe it's divine intervention. >>eit's possible it just closes over time but when you see the picture that the professional photographers took, his hand is here and he's a servient of god, so it's as close to a miracle as we'll ever see. >> thank you for spreading the word that all life is precious, even life that may have struggles and issues like hers, it's as precious as anyone else. and a cool look now to "star

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thursday. right now we are preparing for an historic day. pope francis will arrive in new york in a matter of hours. and this morning, a closer look at what's going to happen when the holy father lands and the facelift that took place in manhattan, if you want to call it that, while you were sleeping. and a new report just out shows how the visit will impact hundreds of thousands of commuters. "today in new york" starts now. good morning, everyone. it's thursday morning, september 24th. i'm darlene rodriguez. >> i'm michael gargiulo. great to have our friend back. >> nice to see you. >> fantastic job in cuba. >> thank you so much. it was a team effort. it was a really interesting assignment. looking forward to seeing what pope francis does while he's here as well. >> he's excited to see you. saw you in cuba. happy to see you here in new york. >> yeah, right. >> let's check in with storm team 4's chris cimino. >> apparently the pope following darlene around, not the other

way around. >> stop the motorcade. >> i heard darlene is here. i'm coming to new york. well, good to see you back. wonderful job. meantime, you came back to much chillier temperatures. 61 in the city isn't bad, but the suburbs down to the 40s. the day planner, as the pope arrives, it'll be sunny. about 5:00, 6:00, looking nice then. by noontime, 77. forecasting a high of 81 degrees. really picture-perfect weather for the pope's arrival. traffic scenario, not so picture perfect. lauren? >> that's right. in addition to the street closures closures, we have some accidents on the roads. right now the major deegan is shut down by 149th street. heading to new jersey, an accident on route 17 northbound just before you get to century road in the right lane. in addition to that, plenty of street closures today. more on that in a bit. we're now a little more than

12 hours from when pope francis lands in new york city. overnight, fences and barricades sprang up around manhattan in anticipation of the pope's arrival. much of the city is being locked down for this historic 40-hour trip. we do have team coverage this morning. we're covering every angle of the pope's visit. a look at the transformation of the city, the impact of commuters. we begin with katherine creag and a look at what the pope will do when he arrives. >> reporter: good morning. an extraordinary amount of security here. we're looking at madison avenue, 72nd street is what you're looking at. right here is where pope francis will be staying. 72nd street between 5th avenue and park avenue is off limits. it is already shut down. to give you an idea of his day here, at 5:00 this afternoon, the pope arrives at kennedy airport. he'll travel by helicopter, arriving at the wall street

he'll be at st. patrick's cathedral 6:30, 6:45 for evening prayers. he's scheduled to depart st. patrick's at 7:45 in the evening. travel to the upper east side to the papal nuns yoe. he'll stay here for two nights. security is intense all over manhattan. some people are hoping to get a glimpse of the pope even with hours to go. they're looking for tickets. >> we were asking why they sell tickets and where we can find them. >> reporter: again, as we've mentioned, an extraordinary amount of security here. also, just some of the police officers. you might be able to see this tow truck right here next to me. they are still towing cars out. there have been parking restrictions, as we know, even since monday. they are still looking for