Whispers in the loggia: "Mister Speaker, The Holy Father" – An Epic First, The Pope in Congress

For all the sprawling schedule of this Stateside PopeTrip – three speeches, six days, 16 major talks and even more engagements – in the popular imagination, one event has loomed above them all... and this Thursday morning, here it comes.

In an act that would've been unthinkable not all that long ago, at 9.20am, the 266th Bishop of Rome will become the first to visit the United States Capitol, where he'll be taken to the House Chamber to deliver an unprecedented address to a joint meeting of Congress. (As a point of precision, the term "joint session" is used solely when the House and Senate are addressed by the President.)

The last major text of this visit to be given in English – all the rest is slated to be in Spanish – Francis' trek to Capital Hill follows a fairly recent openness to addressing legislatures by his two predecessors; John Paul II went to the parliament of his native Poland in 1999, while Benedict XVI gave two of his most significant speeches to the British Parliament in London five years ago this week and to the German Bundestag on his last trip home in 2011.

On the host side, meanwhile, the papal "yes" to the House rostrum fulfills the years-long desire of Speaker John Boehner to secure the moment, a project the Ohio Republican – himself a Catholic – has been pursuing since John Paul's pontificate. Adding to what was already a dramatic and memorable scene, Boehner's office has arranged for the speech to be shown on jumbotrons for a crowd of as many as 50,000 on the Capitol's West Front, which Francis will see as he appears on a balcony following the address to wave.

All that said, here's the livefeed... again, fulltext to follow on delivery.


by Rocco Palmo via Whispers in the Loggia