Pope Makes History With Speech Before Congress; Pope Says To Defend Human Life At Every Stage; King Reacts To Pope's Speech; Pope Gets Political In Congressional Speech; Pope Francis Gets Political; The Pope Visits Catholic Charities.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Pope Frances travels from the halls of power in Washington to the streets of the nation's capital to fellowship with the poor. The third day of the pope's visit to the United States was highlighted by a historic address to Congress and a visit to Catholic Charities in Washington. His speech to Congress began with the feel, really, of more like a presidential state of the union. Here's just a moment.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Speaker, the pope of the holy sea.</s>BOLDUAN: Now, Pope Francis is the first pontiff to speak before a joint meeting of Congress. He spoke before a packed House chamber, probably no surprise to anyone. He was flanked by, you saw it just there, vice president Joe Biden and the House speaker, John Boehner, both Catholics themselves. The pope touched on issues ranging from climate change and the death penalty to abortion and immigration. Listen.</s>POPE FRANCIS, POPE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: We, the people, of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners because most of us -- because most of us were once foreigners. I say this to you as the son of immigrants knowing that so many of you are also descendants from immigrants.</s>BOLDUAN: Now, from Capitol Hill, the Pope visited St. Patrick's church and the Washington offices of Catholic Charities. Now, instead of having lunch with lawmakers, he actually met with the homeless and low income families who gathered for a meal provided by the charity. And later today, the Pope will be leaving Washington and heading here to New York to continue his U.S. tour. Let's take a much closer look at that historic speech by the pope before that joint session of Congress. Joining me now to discuss from Washington is Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash, Senior Washington Correspondent Jeff Zeleny and Our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger. It's great to see all of you, especially on this amazing day. Dana, you were there. You were in there listening to all of this play out in person. You've been there many times before. This was so different. Give us a sense of what you saw, what you heard, what you sensed.</s>DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's funny that you put it to me that way, Kate, because I was thinking the same thing. It's easy for somebody like me. I have had the privilege of witnessing a lot of states of the union speeches, a lot of, you know, addresses to the -- to the joint meetings, heads of state, all kinds of things. This was something like I have never seen before. Obviously, it was historic. But it wasn't just that. More importantly, I was looking at this sea of lawmakers who also have good reason to be jaded because they have seen it all, many of them, and heard it all. But the way that the entire room was focused on what the pope was saying, hanging on every word, whether they agreed with what he was saying or not was something like I have never seen before. And it really -- you felt the gravity of the moment. You felt -- I mean, forgive me for saying this, but the spirituality of the moment. No matter what your faith is, no matter even if you have one or if you're atheist, you just -- you could feel it in the room.</s>BOLDUAN: I think -- I don't think there's any forgiveness needed to feel that when the Pope, Dana, no matter what faith you are. And, Gloria, you were listening to it so closely. He also -- the Pope, in his speech, in a very often subtle and nuanced way, he touched on some very sensitive and politically contentious issues facing America right now. And one of them tied -- he tied the refugee crisis in Europe, also tying it to the immigration problem facing the country here at home. And this is part of what he said. I want to get your take on it. In part of the speech, he said this. On this continent, too, thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities. Is this not what we want for our child -- our own children? We must not be taken aback by their numbers but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation. What's your take on the way he addressed this issue that everyone was expecting him to hit on and wondering how he was going to do it?</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, we talk about a view from 30,000 feet. This is a cosmic view of the political issues that we're discussing today. You know, our political campaign is mired in what can be a very dark and nasty discussion about immigration and the presidential campaign. And what the Pope managed to do was take an issue that's become so polarizing and so political, and he said, just look at people's faces. Just understand that these are children. Just understand that the golden rule, do unto others as you -- as you would have done to you, et cetera, et cetera. So, he took kind of the cynicism, the polarization out of it, and he brought it to politicians in a way that we haven't been discussing in this country and who could disagree with what the Pope said?</s>BOLDUAN: And that's an excellent point. And when you think of -- the question, of course, is, then, what is the impact of his words, Jeff? I mean, when you look at how immigration has become such a focal point, especially in the Republican primary. When you look at candidates like Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, their take on immigration. And in some way, it made me wonder, in a -- in a -- in a purely political sense, could the Pope's words offer them some amount of cover for their positions for pushing for immigration reform?</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, you certainly might think that today, because there certainly is a sense of bipartisanship, something that transcends that, actually. I'm with Dana. We've seen so many speeches here, but this was a different moment. I was standing here, just right in front of the House of Representatives, watching members of Congress from both parties, both chambers, standing side by side, waving to the Pope, trying to get a picture of the Pope. And I thought, wow, I wonder if this will transcend this divide. I think we're being too optimistic if we think that that's going to be the situation here. Talking to several Republicans, as I have afterward, and several Democrats, they said, look, it might help on the margins. It might help, you know, members talk about things with one another. How we frame things. But I just hope I'm not being too pessimistic by saying I really think we're going to be back at the same sort of level of rhetoric that we have been, you know, leading up to this. But that doesn't mean that the speech and this day is not important.</s>BASH: Right.</s>ZELENY: I think it is and it could have a longer-term effect. But I think we shouldn't kid ourselves that this capitol is suddenly going to become undivided.</s>BOLDUAN: No, absolutely right. There's no question about that, Jeff. We know -- no one can be too kumbayah about it, unfortunately. I guess we can say unfortunately we can't be too kumbayah about it. Dana, the Pope also touched on the issue of abortion. And when he -- let me read part of how he addressed it in his speech. He said this, he says, a responsibility to protect and defend life at every stage of its development. This is something many Republicans, of course, they were happy to hear, even though it wasn't, necessarily, maybe as a direct statement maybe they wanted to hear from the Pope. This is also very appropriate and timely because this is a debate on -- about abortion rights and is also public funding for Planned Parenthood that's happening right now on Capitol Hill. Do you think his words could have an impact there?</s>BASH: You know, certainly those who -- for example, just on the political, the legislative issue, of Planned Parenthood, those who want to cut off funding, I can't imagine they're not going to use that to try to use it for their benefit. But, yes, you said that it was subtle but everybody got what he was saying. He didn't need to lay it out. It was very, very clear where he was going with that. And it's an example of how, sort of historically, things have kind of fallen on party lines with regards to pope and the Catholic Church. Historically, it has mostly been Democrats who maybe are Catholic who have had a little bit of discomfort with their own church or the pope. Nancy Pelosi is a perfect example. She is Catholic. She was, you know, raised that way in a very, you know, kind of traditional manner. But she is also somebody who is very much for abortion rights. And so, she's had some differences with past popes and with the church in and of itself. She's sort of used to being in that position because of that issue. But I think what was really new here that you really felt were Republicans who were used to agreeing with the church on social issues, abortion is one example, they were, for the first time, really in a position where they were hearing from the Pope, saying things that, you know, not in a scolding way but in a way that --</s>BOLDUAN: Right.</s>BASH: -- they didn't agree with, on immigration and on saying, point blank, that climate change is manmade which many Republicans, I think most Republicans in that chamber, don't agree with.</s>BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And climate change, the death penalty and many other issues that we haven't even hit on here --</s>BASH: Yes.</s>BOLDUAN: -- that he did touch on in that speech. Very powerful, his words. Jeff, Dana, Gloria, thank you so much. Sill ahead for us, we're talking about all of those that were in the chamber listening to that speech. One man who was there, Peter King. He was one of the many Catholic members of Congress that was in the House chamber for the Pope's -- for the Pope's speech. He's going to join me live to talk about his impressions and thoughts on the Pope and the politics that were brought up. And later on, we're also going to hear about Hillary Clinton's latest interview. Not with a member of the press but with the creator and star of the HBO series "Girls." I'm going to speak with Lena Dunham, that star, about her discussion with Hillary Clinton. Coming up.