lampedusa has become an international by word for desperation. lampedusa has for years now been a desperate way station for migrants and regulars trying to flee their own countries for their own survival or for a better life trying to get to europe. and the very first thing that pope francis did after he became pope was that he traveled to lampedusa to make pack common cause with these most desperate people in the whole world. and top pray for those of them who had been lost at sea trying to get there. so any pope coming to the united states at any time is a huge deal for this country where basically, a quarter of the american population is catholic in one way or another. but this pope coming to this country at this time is a truly singular thing. given who he is and given what else is going on in the world. and so his alitalia jet touched down today at andrews air base. president obama was there to greet him in person along with the first lady and their daughters sasha and malia obama also their grandmother, the first lady's mother was there in

if you remember 2013 and hundreds of people who died in lampedusa, mainly aritreans we were in a sameituation. since then it has been clear that th it's not effective for asylum seekers. it has taken more than two years for an outspoken call for those for germany, france and italy. >> but then you have hungary who does not want refugees. it will be extremely difficult. >> it is extreme difficult, but it is the only solution out there, because the hungarian government will not an i believe to deal with the present situation, and they badly need the european support. hungary is not used to welcoming refugees. a common policy is needed also in order to ensure that the solidarity between states that have been welcoming refugees for a long time such as germany and sweden, who have been able to integrate them into their society and provide services to them, and also regulate the phenomenon of migration in a coherent way and does this what the european about. this shows solidarity among member states and spread practices from one to another. >> i'm so sorry to interrupt you. how much do you

politicians, and the incidents of last week, the deaths of people in a truck in austria in a ship off lampedusa and the sight of that poor syrian child has really affected the conscience of europe and they're thinking of pushing the politicians to be more coherent and organized. >> we are highlighting the two money routes to the refugees take into the continent. from what you know, people that you speak to, where do these refugees get information from to be able to follow those routes? >> well, they are certainly not all refugees. you keep consulting them refugees and we know many are, but many are economic migrants. one should be clear about this. if you call them all refugees, there's a danger that the refugee convention will be weakened. it is terribly important for governments. let's be clear about the people coming, a mixture of asylum seekers. most seek asylum, but many are returned because they are economic migrants. many are accepted because they are genuine, proven to be genuine refugees. they are coming photographer all different reasons and places. they are coming from afghanistan, p

. >> you're looking at images of the pope kissing babies et cetera when he was in lampedusa. you, john, your take on how he walked that line. also a pope that's said a good catholic does meddle in politics. be involved, be part of the conversation, the debate, but he also walked that line a bit in his remarks ahead of this visit. >> sure. only non-man of the cloth on this panel, let me inject a little bit of political edge to this conversation. i'm a little worried we're losing what ought to be our main focus. actually, we are expecting most of his speech tonight is not going to be on immigration policy, it's going to be on religious freedom, and that has been a somewhat contentious issue in recent years. in fact, for the last two or three years, the american catholic bishops have been involved in a tug of war with the obama administration over the contraceptive mandates that were imposed as part of health care reform, their defining religious freedom clause. the pope gave a big pat on the back to the bishops in his speech at the white house the other day saying he wanted to