Addressing a crowd of nearly 15,000 on the south lawn, pope invokes Martin Luther King Jr in speaking of the moral need to protect our ‘common home’
Pope Francis struck an unashamedly political tone at the White House during his first public event of a six-day US tour.
Pope Francis addressed one of the thorniest issues in American politics on Wednesday with a White House speech explicitly supporting Barack Obama’s plan to cut carbon emissions and chastising climate change sceptics for failing in their duty to protect our “common home”.
In a tougher-than-expected call for action on global warming, the spiritual leader of more than 70 million American Catholics defied calls among some Republicans to steer clear of politics by making clear he believed this was a moral issue.
“Climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation,” said the pope, who invited contrast with the civil rights struggle by invoking the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr in support of his argument.
Barack Obama introduced the welcoming ceremony, the pope’s first public event of the six-day trip to the United States, as a moment to “shake our conscience from slumber”.
His target audience was less the 11,000 hand-picked visitors crammed onto the South Lawn – or even the several thousand more faithful on the neighbouring Ellipse – than the millions of watching Americans who remain sceptical of the need for radical climate action.
From the moment his famous cassock materialised under the emblematic White House colonnade on Wednesday, any doubt this would be a deeply political visit by Pope Francis vanished.
“Mr President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution,” the pope said with a slow, deliberate delivery that left little room for misinterpretation.
And, lest a papal blessing for the Environmental Protection Agency’s new emission control standards not prove a shocking enough incongruity, the pope made clear his view that support was a moral imperative for all Americans.
“I would like all men and women of goodwill in this great nation to support the efforts of the international community to protect the vulnerable in our world and to stimulate integral and inclusive models of development, so that our brothers and sisters everywhere may know the blessings of peace and prosperity which God wills for all his children,” he said to loud applause.
Whether Republican opponents of the EPA rule change will consider themselves “men and women of goodwill” in this case will become clearer on Thursday, when the pope is expected to make a similar appeal in a direct address to Congress.
In the meantime, the pontiff emphasised his belief that politicians owe a debt not just to the planet and their children, but particularly to the underprivileged in the world seen as most at risk from the effects of global warming.
“Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition not only of the kind of world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them,” he said.
“Our common home has been part of this group of the excluded which cries out to heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities and our societies,” he added. “To use a telling phrase of the Reverend Martin Luther King, we can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honor it.”
Enlisting the spirit of Dr King – a tactic familiar to president Obama, who used his sing-song pulpit voice to rouse the crowd ahead of the pope’s address – was less conventional territory for the Vatican. The remark contained an implicit reference to the US constitution as well as the teachings of the Bible.
King originally accused America of defaulting on the “promissory note” in his “I have a dream” speech and suggested African Americans had been given “a bad check” by the founding fathers who promised to grant all men inalienable rights.
To this, the pope responded: “We know by faith that the Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us.” He continued: “Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home. As Christians inspired by this certainty, we wish to commit ourselves to the conscious and responsible care of our common home.”
The pope’s direct reference to the Obama administration’s new proposed climate change regulations made this address his most politically charged commentary since Francis began his journey to Cuba and the US. While in Havana, he encouraged leaders of both countries to keep striving for reconciliation, but he steered clear of any direct references to political controversies on either side.
In Washington, the pope appears willing to be more bold, addressing head-on the major controversies that divide a polarised US political establishment. The pope provoked cheers from the crowd, for example, by reminding them that he too was an immigrant and that America was a country built on immigration – another subject of fierce topical debate in the US.
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| Barack Obama sits with Pope Francis in the Oval Office as the pontiff is welcomed to the White House. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters |
In pre-released drafts of the speech issued by the Vatican, it was hard to tell how much remarks like this would deliver a political punch.
But there was something about the slow, deliberate diction of the speech and enthusiastic reaction of the Washington audience that gave these tweaks of the American political consciousness a momentous feel.
The pope also made clear he would not shy away from challenging his hosts on other issues too – pointedly pledging to address the “institution of marriage” in future remarks that will be closely scrutinised for criticism of recent US breakthroughs in same-sex marriage equality.
More conservative Americans may also draw solace from the pope’s reference to the need to protect religious liberty, something many believe is infringed upon by requiring state officials to recognise same sex unions despite any personal objections they may have.
But the welcoming event on the South Lawn concluded with a stirring choral performance that transcended the political elements of the speech. “We love you, Pope Francis,” shouted a lone male voice across the lawn at the end of the ceremony, drawing laughter and applause from the crowd before, once again, a military brass band struck up.
Many of the guests at the ticketed event on the South Lawn said they saw the pope as a unifying figure.
“He is particularly good at bringing young people together who are not necessarily the most devout,” said Katharine Connolly, a 23-year-old law student at Georgetown University.
“It’s a once in a lifetime event,” added Alexander Kurien, 51, a government worker also from DC. “I really feel he is a reflection of Christ: he lives by example.”
Obama paid tribute to the Pope for “shak[ing] our conscience from slumber” in a warm welcome that made clear the personal bond between the two men and imbued the sunny South Lawn with a greater than usual mood of bonhomie.
The president also thanked Francis for his diplomatic support for talks between the US and Cuba, although the pope himself did not mention the matter.
“We are grateful for your invaluable support of our new beginning with the Cuban people, which holds out the promise of better relations between our countries, greater cooperation across our hemisphere, and a better life for the Cuban people,” said Obama.
“Holy Father, you remind us that we have a sacred obligation to protect our planet – God’s magnificent gift to us,” he added. “We support your call to all world leaders to support the communities most vulnerable to a changing climate and to come together to preserve our precious world for future generations.”
But not all observers found the love-in quite as appropriate. “Not sure if that was a speech by the head of the Catholic Church or Al Gore,” concluded a tweet from the conservative Catholic website Rorate Caeli.
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