JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (CNS) – Pope Francis arrived in the
United States the late afternoon of Sept. 22 to begin his
first apostolic journey as pontiff.
His plane, an Alitalia jetliner, touched down at Joint Base
Andrews near Washington at 3:51 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time,
nine minutes ahead of schedule.
In the minutes before and after the plane landed, a group of
excited Catholics, after having prayed the rosary, began and
sustained a chant: “We love Francis, yes we do; we love
Francis, how ’bout you?” Other chants later erupted: “Ho, ho,
hey, hey; welcome to the U.S.A.!” and “Fran-cis-co!”
Ready to greet the pontiff as he descended from the plane,
which bore U.S. and Vatican flags, were President Barack
Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their two daughter, Sasha and
Malia.
A group of bishops stood on the tarmac waiting to greet Pope
Francis, among them Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington,
in whose archdiocese Joint Base Andrews is located.
Others on hand from the episcopacy were Archbishop Joseph E.
Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S
Conference of Catholic Bishops; Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of
Galveston-Houston, USCCB vice president; Cardinal Theodore E.
McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington; Archbishop
William E. Lori of Baltimore, a former Washington auxiliary
bishop; Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Washington-based
Archdiocese for the Military Services; and Arlington Bishop
Paul S. Loverde.
Among the elected officials at Andrews were Maryland Gov.
Larry Hogan, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and Mayor Muriel
Bowser of the District of Columbia. All three are Catholic.
Vice President Joe Biden also welcomed the pope.
After the jet came to a stop, the roller stairway was wheeled
into position and a red carpet rolled out. Thirteen minutes
after the plane touched down, the door to the jet’s cabin
opened.
At 4:06 p.m., Pope Francis appeared from the open door to
riotous cheering and applause from the small group of
invitees, walking down the steps. Unlike Cuban leader Raul
Castro, who walked up the steps to meet the pontiff at the
door of the aircraft, Obama and his family waited at the base
of the steps to greet Pope Francis.
The wind at times took Pope Francis’ cape and lifted it over
the back of his head. At the end of the carpet, the pope met
a few Catholic schoolchildren, who offered him a bouquet.
No formal remarks were planned for Pope Francis’ arrival, and
none was uttered. But the president and the pope chatted
amiably out of microphone range, each man wearing a wide
smile.
Surrounded by a Secret Service detail, Pope Francis and Obama
walked off the tarmac to the grounds of the military base and
into a lounge for a brief discussion.
In six minutes, Pope Francis had come and gone.
But after just eight minutes in the lounge, the joint papal
and presidential details re-emerged, with Pope Francis
receiving rock star-like adulation of the crowd on risers on
the tarmac. The pope stepped into the back seat of a
four-door black Fiat 500L bearing the license plate “SCV 1” –
SCV being the Italian acronym for Vatican City-State – rolled
down the window, and smiled at the onlookers before the
vehicle slowly accelerated, trailing behind a much larger
black Chevrolet Suburban. Even the glimpse of the departing
pope’s hand waving from the window opposite him was enough to
elicit added cheers from the crowd.
After Pope Francis had faded from view, Obama stayed on the
tarmac long enough to shake the hands of the bishops who had
assembled to greet the pontiff.
