Possible itinerary for Pope Francis visit includes address to Congress

The committee planning Pope Francis’s fall trip to the United States is considering having him land Sept. 22 in Washington and visit the White House, address Congress and then head to New York for a possible stop at Ground Zero, a member of the committee reportedly said.

The comments made Sunday by Archbishop Bernardito Auza — the Vatican’s representative to the United Nations — are the most detailed thus far about the possible arc of Francis’s trip, which centers on a major meeting in Philadelphia on family issues. Auza spoke to a reporter who works for two Catholic news organizations with close ties to the Vatican: Catholic News Agency and EWTN.

Late Sunday, the Rev. Thomas Rosica, an English-speaking spokesman for the Vatican, declined to comment, other than to say “there is no official confirmation” of anything but the Philadelphia leg.

There have been rumors for months about which other cities, besides Philadelphia, Francis would visit on his trip. John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi — both Catholic — formally invited him in March to speak to Congress. If he does, he will be the first. Other popes, including Pope Benedict XVI in 2008, have visited the White House.

“These are just proposals. At the end of February, there will be the first organizational visit [from a Vatican delegation], and then we will see what we could really fill in,” CNS and EWTN quoted Auza as saying.

The Filipino archbishop reportedly made the comments in Manila, where 6 million people saw Pope Francis celebrate Mass on Sunday. The Boston Archdiocese’s newspaper also used the news agency’s story. The archdiocese is headed by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who is said to be the pope’s closest U.S. adviser.

U.S. church officials in recent months have declined to confirm rumors of Francis’s itinerary, and efforts to reach the archdiocese of Washington and the Basilica of the National Shrine — a major basilica in Washington that CNA/EWTN said would host the pope – were not immediately successful late Sunday.

According to the report, Francis would land Sept. 22 in Washington and possibly visit the White House the next day. He would then possibly celebrate Mass at the National Shrine in Northeast Washington.

Auza said “the highlight” of a potential papal D.C. leg would be a speech to Congress before the pope would head to New York on Sept. 24. He’d speak Sept. 25 at the United Nations, where many heads of state are already scheduled to be for a major summit on sustainable development.

The Philadelphia archdiocese confirmed last fall that Pope Francis would be arriving in that city Sept. 25 for the meeting, which runs through Sept. 27.