Pope calls for humane U.S. migrant response

Pope Francis told Congress on Thursday that the United States should reject a “mindset of hostility” to immigrants, directly addressing a thorny subject that is dividing the country and stirring debate in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Numerous principles for which Pope Francis advocated are similar to those of the Democratic Party as well as its current presidential candidates, from supporting immigration and combatting climate change to the rejection of the arms trade and the death penalty.

Talk radio host Mark Levin argued that President Obama and Pope Francis I “speak down to us about so many things” on Thursday.

Cuellar said the pope was able to encourage dialogue to a divided Congress. Pope Francis reminded lawmakers that they are representing the people who elected them, and they need to always.

In his speech, the Pope also called for “courageous and responsible” action against climate change, describing it as “environmental deterioration caused by human activity”.

Afterwards he blessed around 50,000 people who had gathered outside to watch his address on big screens.

But the students at the Strake Jesuit College Preparatory school listened intently as Pope Francis made his address. He’ll fly to New York, where he will end his day with evening services at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The Pope will address a joint meeting of Congress making him the first pontiff in history to do so.

That passage would have come up 20 minutes into the speech, but Francis omitted it. It’s unclear whether that was purposeful or he inadvertently skipped it. Francis, who has said English is hard for him, spoke verbatim from his prepared remarks for the entirety of the rest of his speech.

Last year, efforts by both sides of government to improve immigration laws failed and the USA experienced a flood of more than 60,000 unaccompanied minors from Central America rushing to the US. “These are questions which all of us might well ask”.

So perhaps it is just a quirk of automotive geography that the brand of vehicle chosen by this Latin-American pope who preaches a message of love and respect for the environment and for every person regardless of status is also the word for Mary’s acceptance of a life-changing challenge from God.

And retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said his big takeaway was that “we as a nation still value faith”.