Whispers in the loggia: The Pope Before the World – Laudato Looming, Francis At the UN

When the Vatican looks at New York as "caput mundi" – the modern "Capital of the World" – just to be clear, it's not talking about the city's prominence in media. If anything, to use a Francis-ism, that's about as self-referential as it gets.

Far from the cameras and newsrooms, Gotham's prominence in Rome's eyes is drawn instead from the presence of two other key global institutions: the financial markets and the United Nations. And so it is that this PopeTrip Friday begins with Francis' turn at a hallowed tradition for the pontiffs, addressing the General Assembly, this time amid the body's observance of its 70th anniversary.

Cherished by the trio of diplomat-Popes who came up through the ranks of the Secretariat of State – Pius XII, John XXIII and Paul VI – it would be the latter who first addressed the body a half-century ago next week, a speech capped by the famous plea, "No more war! War never again!" (And in a fitting echo of that 13-hour trek on 4 October 1965, the same Mass for Peace and Justice used by Paul at Yankee Stadium will be the text for tonight's liturgy in Madison Square Garden.)

In the time since, John Paul II came twice – in 1979 and 1995 – and a stop at the First Avenue headquarters was likewise a high-point of B16's 2008 swing. Now, however, a different kind of Man in White shows up: a product of the "global south" unconnected to the World War II-era polarities that birthed the UN. With Francis having forged a close relationship with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, however, it is a unique sign of collaboration that the UN's summit on its proposed sustainable development goals – one of the events which inspired Papa Bergoglio's preparation and timing of Laudato Si' – begins immediately after his departure today.

Amid reports of an excited atmosphere in the building that's said to be unique, Francis arrives at 8.30am, and is slated to greet the staff before the main speech.

Yet again, here's your livefeed... and, of course, text on delivery.


by Rocco Palmo via Whispers in the Loggia