Updated 7.38pm
BARACK OBAMA HAS welcomed Pope Francis to the White House — the first black US president hailing the first pontiff from the Americas as a unique moral authority.
The South Lawn of the White House echoed to the strains of the Pontifical Anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner and a thundering 21-gun salute.
Locals thronged the streets for the historic visit.
An inspiration to many of America’s 70 million Catholics, Francis is also a potential political ally for Obama, sharing many of his progressive goals.
Both men called for action on climate change and hailed the rapprochement between the United States and Cuba — causes dear to the White House but opposed by US conservatives.
“I believe the excitement around your visit must be attributed not only to your role as pope, but to your unique qualities as a person,” Obama told his guest.
In your humility, your embrace of simplicity, the gentleness of your words and the generosity of your spirit, we see a living example of Jesus’ teachings, a leader whose moral authority comes not just through words but through deeds.
Speaking in fluent but accented English, the 78-year-old Argentine pontiff returned the warm blessings of his host.
“I am deeply grateful for your welcome in the name of all Americans,” he said, to applause.
As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families.
In a nod to Washington’s bitter debate about immigration reform, Francis said he would address Congress “to offer words of encouragement to those called to guide the nation’s political future in fidelity to its founding principles”.
Many US conservatives call into question the very existence of man-made climate change, but Francis and Obama made a de facto joint appeal for action on the issue.
“You remind us that we have a sacred obligation to protect our planet,” Obama said.
Francis took up the call:
“Accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation.”
“When it comes to the care of our ‘common home,’ we are living at a critical moment of history.”
The pope was afforded a full ceremonial welcome on his historic first visit to the United States, and to Washington — a political city that ordinarily shrugs its shoulders when presidents, queens and sheikhs roll through.
Francis will make two key speeches during his US visit, the address to Congress and another to the United Nations on Friday.
Topics will include critiques of the dominance of finance and technology; a condemnation of world powers over the conflicts gripping the planet; appeals to protect and welcome immigrants; and climate change, according to Vatican sources.
Speaking later to US bishops, the Pope called on them to work to ensure the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church never happens again.
“I realize how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you,” he said.
And I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims — in the knowledge that in healing we too are healed — and to work to ensure such crimes will never be repeated.
The pope disappointed many American followers by deciding not to meet with the victim’s of sex abuse by priests, but he was not able to avoid the issue altogether.
Besides the abuse itself, bishops and the Vatican have been accused of protecting suspected abusers and giving alleged victims the cold shoulder
© – AFP 2015, originally published 4.41pm.
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