. >> reporter: monsignor ronald jamison is director of st. matthews. he will welcome the holy father to the mother church of the archdiocese of washington. >> it will be a limited time that i'll have and st. matthews with what's inside the cathedral with its emphasis on st. francis and also st. matthew, so i'm sure that will be the topic of our conversation. >> reporter: the cathedral is designed in the form of a latin cross. as you enter to the right is the chapel of st. francis of simple with murals depicting scenes of the life of st. francis. everywhere else are walls with shimmering mosaics. the interior dome rises 190 feet. the cathedral seats 1,000 people. it is here pope francis will hold midday prayer. this is the second time st. matthews has posted a pope. pope john paul, ii celebrated mass here in 1979 greeted by rock star size crowds on rhode island avenue. >> that day was very different. this year there will be no one other than the media and 50 other people on rhode island avenue. the security today is far different than it was in 1979. th

he's going to be greeted by ronald jamison, the rector of st. matthew.e's being told now exactly what's going to happen. i don't know if you had a camera a moment ago, but there were a zillion police officers on motorcycles and police cars, and just to the right of where the pope is, there are lots of cars following behind him. that's cardinal wuerl there with him explaining what they're going to be doing. and now they're about to go inside. let's take a moment and watch him go up the steps. there's no large crowd. this is not a good spot for the public to be. z that's a spanish reporter on the stand there. so here he goes. he's waving. so the pope will be speaking at the midday prayer service. there are 300 bishops from around the country who will hear his -- we're told about a 15 or 20-minute speech. i think those doors will close once everyone is inside. and i'm sorry you can't see him for all the black suits. somebody made a fortune selling black suits. again, this is the famous st. matthews. funeral mass for president kennedy was here. pope john pau

. >> reporter: monsignor ronald jamison greeted john paul in 1979 when 18,000 people crowded rhode island avenue to see him. >> this time this will all be completely blocked off. >> reporter: but at the insistence of the secret service which has been planning for months this time the street will be closed to the public and all but the very luckiest -- you're hoping you'll be in the cathedral? >> yeah. that's my hopeful. >> reporter: it's your parish, so maybe. >> indeed, yes, yes. >> reporter: he's hoping. now the security mobilization for the pope is expected to be the largest in american history. pope francis' habit of stopping his motorcade and wading into the crowd is only making security officials more nervous, but, of course, that is one of the things that makes this pope so popular. live at the national shrine bruce leshan, wusa9. >> and we've been telling you about the traffic deal tours that will take place during the pope's visit. get a complete list of all the closures on our wusa9 news app. >>> one local hospital is celebrating the historic visit by renaming their emergency ca

it's the new age. >> there's monsignor ronald jamison hugging pope francis there.ed monsignor performed my wedding ceremony. good to see him there. he's been at st. matthew's a long time. he greeted the pope when he arrived at st. matthew's and now appears to be saying good-bye to the pope as he heads for some down time this afternoon. kelly, do we know exactly what this down time is going to look like? are we talking about a nap here for pope francis? >> reporter: well, he's earned one with all of the activity of this day. and it is an intense experience one can imagine being at the center of all of this. to the left of the camera, and i'm not going to ask dave to move because i think you'll see it as the procession begins to move, assembled on the steps of st. matthew's are the 300 bishops and cardinals of the church who will or have been waiting to say farewell to the pope. there's applause happening now. the fiat is on the move. there's applause from the bishops and cardinals. and then i would expect we'll hear a roar from the crowd at the intersection of rhode

. >> reporter: monsignor ronald jamison will welcome the holy father to this church of washington. >> it will be a limited time i will have and saint matthew's with what's inside the cathedral with its emphasis on st. francis and also saint matthew so i'm sure that will be the top pick of our -- topic of our conversation. >> reporter: the cathedral is designed in the form of a latin cross. it's simple with murals depicting scenes from the life of st. francis. in contrast, everywhere else you look in saint matthew's are walls filled with shimmering mow zacs -- mow pope john paul ii celebrated mass here in 1979. he was greeted by rock star sized crowds on rhode island avenue. monsignor jamison was asked to coordinate the liturgies. >> that day was very different. this year there will be no one other than the media and 50 other people on rhode island avenue. the security today is far different than it was in 1979. this is the chalis that was used. >> reporter: it protects him at the outdoor mass at the national mall. in a matter of hours, history will be made again at saint matthew's cat