Paula Ebben's Papal Visit Blog: Welcome To The White House
WASHINGTON (CBS) - I'll be live tweeting from inside The White House welcome ceremony for Pope Francis Wednesday morning. It begins at 9:15 a.m. Look for my tweets as CBS News and WBZ-TV carry this historic moment live.
Check: Pope's U.S. Visit Schedule
It's incredible to think that 55 years after President John F. Kennedy had to reassure voters that as a Roman Catholic he would not take orders from the Pope, we are witnessing the first Pope from Latin America visiting the first African-American president at The White House.
Official program #WBZ pic.twitter.com/PIQqR10jsa
— Paula Ebben (@PaulaEbben) September 23, 2015
During his campaign, JFK effectively quoted from a beautiful letter called the "Jackie Letter" to make his point. It was written by Lt. Commander John J. Shea (Shea Field at Boston College is named for him) to his little boy Jackie during World War II before he died from a Japanese torpedo attack. In his advice to his son, Shea wrote "be a good Catholic and you can't help being a good American." That idea helped President Kennedy overcome Catholic bigotry and it very well may be the message Pope Francis delivers to Americans as he talks about his concern for the poor and those on the periphery of society.
On Day 2 we ran in to Boston Marathon bombings hero Carlos Arredondo who will also be at The White House Wednesday. Interesting fact: his famous cowboy hat is on display at the Museum of Crime here in Washington.
I interviewed Senator Ed Markey who met the Pope during a Climate Change meeting at the Vatican. He tells me he expects the Holy Father's speech to Congress Thursday to be "The Sermon on the Mount."
Finally, a fun fact about Junipero Serra, (who you can read about here) who will be canonized a Saint Wednesday. How significant is he in the history of California?
Each state is represented by two statues in the National Statuary Hall in the Capitol, which is devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans.
The two from California are President Reagan and Junipero Serra.
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Watch: Paula Ebben reports from Washington, DC