Popemania

Even though Washington D.C. gets visits from heads of state on a regular occurrence some visitors still can create a stir.  Late this last September, the head of the Holy Sea, his holiness, Pope Francis came to the United States, the first papal address to Congress in 20+ years.  The scene was intense, with an address to a joint session of Congress, and a speech televised to the public outside.  I was part of this crowd, part of an invite only crowd that had the opportunity to be part of the event, and receive a special address from the pope himself.  The invitations were given to members of the Senate and House of Representatives for their use, one of the students in our cohort worked in Senator Sherrod Brown’s office and were able to secure extra tickets that had gone unclaimed.  He alerted the group via the text the day before the morning event.  My supervisor was completely open to me having the experience to be part of a papal visit and released me from work obligations, minutes after emailing her.  The event was extremely crowded, even after we cleared security over 2 hours before the speech!  It was a busy morning.