Care For Those On The Margins: Detroit Archbishop Meeting Pope In D.C.

DETROIT (WWJ) - Pope Francis is wrapping up a trip to Cuba Monday and then he'll head to the U.S. for his first visit.

Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron will meet with the pope in Washington, D.C. and he says he thinks the pope would laugh at the notion of being called "cool" at 79.

"That's his aim," says Vigneron. "It's about being a vehicle for people to come to know Jesus and if he can attract people to Christ I think he will consider that he has done a good day's work."

Listen to the full interview below:
https://nyc.podcast.play.it/media/d0/d0/d1/d9/dK/d5/dX/19K5X_3.MP3
 

While in D.C. the Archbishop says the pope will address some important themes.

"The stewardship of the ecology, about fixing our broken immigration policies in the United States, again about the care of the least - those at the margins and the fourth important theme ... is the exercise of religious liberty," says Vigneron.

The visit will also include stops in Philadelphia and New York City.

On Sunday, Francis met with President Raul Castro and his brother Fidel, the former president.

On arrival he called for greater freedom for the church. At his open air mass, Francis told an estimated 200,000 people to beware of the dangers of ideology and the lure of selfishness.

"Service is never ideological," he said, as President Raul Castro and senior members of his communist government looked on. "We do not serve ideas, we serve people," added the pontiff.

Among the faithful there was overwhelming gratitude for the pope's role in the new relationship between Cuba and the U.S.