across the dc area. they were singing and chanting and waving vatican flags, waving flags from argentina, chanting, "feel it, feel it, the pope is here, feel it" all in spanish. then the pope exited the vehicle, walked up the steps of the vatican embassy and turned and waved to the children. there was a bit of disappointment that he did not come out and shake the hands of the children. but still there was no disappointment here. at this hour, there are still hundreds of people just up massachusetts avenue who are waiting still to watch this incredible spectacle of security, the largest security operation in u.s. history. many of them brought their childrentheibabies, just for a glimpse of pope francis on his historic visit to the

united states, a thrilling moment to be in northwest washington watching history unfold before our very eyes. reporting live from northwest washington, wusa9. >> andrea, thanks for that. i can't help but say he is 78 or 79 years old and he has 23 million twitter followers. bruce has more from joint base andrews. >> reporter: hey, just a few stragglers are left out here. we have cnn getting ready to do the second to their last live shot that stops at 6:00. they have taken down the grand stand and they're removing the stairs. the flight was here a couple minutes ago. it was just here and it is ready to take the trip to italy. from now on the pope will take

american airlines charter flight. take a look at the video tape. when that plane came into view, the roar of the crowd overcame the roar of the jet engines with people shouting "hey, hey, pope francis, we love you." there were thousands to see him. the pope is 78 years old and tired after a long trip. he bounded down the jet ramp anyway. he came down and saw the president, the first lady, the vice president. usually the president doesn't come out to visit foreign dignitaries to greet them at andrews but this is a measure of how the pope transcends those kinds of boundaries that he was here. he will be pushing, pushing the only super power left in the world to do more to take care of the poor and the disenfranchised and the marginalized. he was greeted by school children who gave him flowers. he went and spent a few minutes

with the president in a lounge and then he came back and perhaps one of the most symbolic things he could do, he climbed into a little sub compact fiat. this big man, world recognized, in a little fiat with the motorcade back to dc. >> bruce, thanks a lot for that. i thought you said he was going to fly american airlines commercial but you did say charter flight from here to new york and philly, right? >> it's a charter flight, but it's configured not like air force one. he is just up in the front in a regular configuration. >> got it. okay. thanks. today's visit is huge by any measure but the pope's visit has special meaning for students of the theological college. peggy. >> reporter: pope francis will be canonizing the 18th century missionary and priest who was

one of the founding fathers of california, a controversial figure in native american communities. but the church considers him a great evangelizer. here at the franciscan monastery today it was all about pope francis with a very exciting watch party. [ cheering and applause ] >> reporter: excitement filled the air at the watch party as soon as the pope's plane came into view. when pope francis emerged from the plane and was greeted by president obama and his family, people at the franciscan monastery stood and cheered. >> very excited! i have goose bumps! >> reporter: one couple drove from florida to be here. >> i am so excited! i am so lucky to see him here in dc! >> very exciting. we love this pope. i like all the popes. this one here though seems to have a special human touch, and

i think he has touched a lot of people all over the world. >> very simple. >> reporter: today it was about pope francis' arrival on u.s. soil. >> i am crying already. i don't know why. i am so excited. it's just how he touches everybody's heart. >> reporter: you can see these luminaries that have been placed out. they are just about to light them. they bring the luminaries out for special occasions like christmas time and have the father over there and the crowd is gathering to light the luminaries to celebrate the arrival of pope francis. peggy fox reporting live at the franciscan monastery. bruce. >> thanks a lot. if you get a chance, check out the catacombs. it is impressive. >> i haven't done that. i can't wait to do that. thank you. folks stopped what they were doing to get a glimpse of what pope francis was doing. >> reporter: the persona is a

sleepy corner of northwest washington. tonight it is anything but. call them the hopeful faithful, many standing for hours today hoping for a glimpse of the holy father. many of them say they will continue to stand out here for hours just across the street from the vatican embassy. of course we are told tonight that the pope has no more movements, nothing else official on his schedule but that's not enough to deter the people who came out tonight regardless of where they came from. many are from all over the world. we heard the same message time and again. take a listen. >> this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the pope, you know. i just flew down here, internship at the embassy from fresno california. why not? >> what a great dc moment. >> pretty awesome refer really exciting! >> it's pretty good. >> reporter: what made you want to come out just to see him for a few seconds to see him drive by. >> exactly what you said. a once in a lifetime

opportunity. we live right here. it's exciting to be able to come on by. >> reporter: a chance for history tonight, there will be a lot of people in this corner of northwest dc just watching for that little gray fiat. >> thanks a lot for that. i am joined with father gonzalez. i have to ask you, there is still the divide between a lot of american catholics and the church. pope francis gets very high marks, the church not as high. they're still divided with same- sex marriage, contraception, abortion. it goes on and on. how do you bridge that gap or is there a way of bridging that gap? what do you say to your parishioners? >> what the pope is teaching us is that you have to lead from the heart. i think that's key. that experience i was telling you about that even in my own life, i was a fallen away

catholic for many years too in high school and college. what changed my life and made me want to donate my life to be a priest is an encounter with a risen person, my lord savior jesus christ. when you encounter that person, he changes your life. we've got to lead from the heart. we've got to lead with the encounter of christ and then you are able to understand perhaps. >> you became a priest during a very tough time with the sexual abuse scandal. you had to have had doubts. you told me a story where guys saw you and you had the collar on and they said degrading things to you that caused you to take pause. what must it have been like then and how did you get through that to get to where you are now? >> in the end, it's a love for god. that was my first time wearing clerics publicly. i was still a seminarian but my vocations director asked me to go to a vocations conference in montreal, canada. i was walking down the street

and these young guys in the middle of the whole controversial and the whole storm on the abuse scandal in boston said something very derogatory. i had to think long and hard that night in my hotel room. the bottom line is do you not do god's will because you have to take up your cross or because a bunch of punk kids said something? what the pope is trying to get us to do is to step up to the plate and be who we are. >> you had to at that time because you were singled out, you had to help try and restore some of the credibility lost because of the sexual abuse scandal. >> that's right. >> and because of actions or inactions of some bishops. >> it is easy for me. when i travel to rome -- not that i go often -- but when i travel to visit family or do something in the u.s. i go with my clerics. i could easily not do that. but then there is no visible sign of the church and priesthood among the people. i think that's important. am i going to open myself up

for perhaps another comment? my experience is most people are very respectful. >> are catholics coming back? or are they still leaving? >> pope francis has changed the discussion. he has changed the dialogue from the abuse scandal to something that's more to the heart of matters. that is where are we as a church, as far as living out our calling to be holy, calling of the second vatican council which we are living in the 50th anniversary now, universal call to holiness of life, are we living that out? that's what the pope is trying to say. you mentioned cafeteria catholics. i would say enough of superficial living of the faith. we've got to really live that out by convict of life in every aspect of our lives. >> bottom line, the church is not going to change. women are not going to become priests. the church will not change its

position on marriage between man and woman, will not change their position on contraception. they say here is what we are offering. >> the church develops through time in understanding and deepening of the why she says what she does. there are some things that aren't going to change because they're true. what the church does do is deepen its understanding of its doctrine. when you go to a baseball game, don't you have an umpire? don't you have rules and regulations? are we expecting the baseball game to change from year to year? no. because there is an order of play. the church has to have that baseline by which to analyze and really look at the movements, moral movements of history. history. >> got

we are at the basilica of the immaculate conception. they're setting up the alter for the 4:15 mass that pope francis will be presiding over tomorrow, the canonization of the franciscan fryer we have been talking about all evening. 1000 -- thousands of people are

expected. many will be standing. it is invitation only. there are dignitaries, church officials, elected leaders are expected. he will be at the white house. he has the session before the congress before he leaves here heading to new york and then philadelphia. we will be here live covering this from beginning to end at the basilica and all the other places where the pope will be. we want you

we are back now with our extended coverage of pope francis' visit to the united states. he landed here close to 4:00 after circling a bit. the pope has made it here to dc. that's him arriving at andrews air force base and right now he is resting comfortably, we hope, at the vatican embassy as he prepares for a very full day tomorrow speaking in the morning at the white house and holding mass later in the day with other events in between. >> joining us now is john car, director of the initiative on catholic and public life at

georgetown university. >> i am happy to be here. >> you said this is a pope that's challenging all of us. not just catholics, liberals, conservatives or democrats or republicans but all of us. what do you mean by that? >> he is a wonderful terrible metaphor of the throw away society. he says too often we treat people with things and toss them aside. think of the boy on beach from syria. think of the planned parenthood videos. he will challenge democrats, are he cans -- republicans, catholics. in a city focused on the powerful, he focuses on people without power. he says the moral measure of our lives is how we treat the people who are poor and vulnerable. frankly, that's not the way washington works usually. >> you said as we take a look at pope francis, you can see

his influence on the church immediately and the people you saw. the cardinal looked different. you said he has freed people to be their authentic receives. >> pope francis first of all seems very free himself. this was an archbishop who had some resignation and all of a sudden he is elected pope. a jesuit from latin america. it's the same message in lots of ways. the gospel of jesus christ. but it's a different messenger. it's a message of joy, mercy, and care for one another. he is touching everybody's hearts, not just catholics, not just true believers. hopefully he will touch hearts of congress and they can work together. if that happens it would be the first miracle. >> you are going to the white house tomorrow as well as attending joint session where he addresses congress. what should we watch out for on

this trip? >> i think one of the questions is will we try and push him into our ideological boxes, political preferences? or will we let him challenge us, some of our prejudices? he is going to talk about immigrants not as a political issue, but as human beings, as families. we ought to take a step back and think about the issues. if he does that, washington would be a different place. my sense is the folks, ordinary people -- the people in mass tomorrow will get this. the question is will our leaders try and use him or will they listen to him? >> pope francis is not a politician but he has incredible political instincts. we will see if what he says does make a difference in the environment that we are in now. we sure hope so. john car thank you so much for being here. we appreciate your insight. topper will take us into the

break with some weather. >> absolutely. we will start with the forecast for tomorrow. it will be simply spectacular with sunshine. 9:00, 65. by 5:00, 78 with sunshine. right now, a beautiful shot. we are down to 73. our dew point is in the 50s. it's comfortable weather. winds east northeast at 10. clear to partly cloudy tonight and cool. we will be in the 50s in the suburbs. a cool start tomorrow but a warm finish for pope francis. it will still be nice thursday. in fact probably warmer thursday, maybe in the low 80s. then a few showers may end the week. at this point it is not a wash out on friday. at 10:00 tonight we have temps in low 60s in the burbs, maybe even 59 in frederick. by 6:00 am we are in the mid 50s to low 60s with sunshine. by 9:00, low to mid 60s.

what a great day to take lunch out tomorrow, 76 downtown and mid 70s in most of the burbs. day planner, 65 by 9:00 and 76 by 1:00 p.m. with full sun. still nice thursday and 81. the day will end with a few clouds and a couple showers possible on friday. the next seven days, saturday we will keep dre for now in the upper -- dry for now in the upper 70s. we are

the pope goes from dc to new york and so do the burgundy and gold. after a win, washington has a short week before playing the giants. their division foes will be fighting mad as they're 0-2 after the first two weeks of the season. the skins saw the work week coming off of win. cousins and company only got two days of practice and showed obvious improvement but they're still a work in progress. >> when you get down and you want to get back in the game, you can't get it all back in one play. it's better to take what they give you and punt. maybe you will not come back as quick but at least you are not turning the ball over and giving them a greater chance. it's a lesson of patience and taking what they give you. >> catch the game right here on wusa9. coverage starts at 8:25. keep it here for a wrap up on

wusa9 sports. time for our high school football game of the week poll. four great games to choose from. go and vote right now on the sports section of our wusa9 app or go to wusa9.com/sports. the mystics are trying to windfall three so they can advance to eastern conference finals. >> jam packed across the eastern sea board. >> lots from dc to new york going on. >> oh yeah. bruce johnson has been reporting for us -- i can't talk after three hours. great job reporting from the basilica. we will see him at 7:00. >> we will be back then. have a great night everybody. >> bye.

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>> pelley: pope francis lands in america after a high-level welcome, a most humble beginning. also tonight, donald trump. we were with you in new hampshire when that man stood up. >> yes. >> dahler: and said, "we have a problem in this country and it's muslims." you let that pass. and i wonder what that tells us about you. the v.w. cheating scandal grows to 11 million vehicles. and the corporate executive accused of gouging cancer patients. >> i'm a capitalist. i'm trying to create a big drug company, a successful drug company, profitable drug company. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: tonight, the first pope from the americas is in the united states for the first time in his life. te