Our first-time visitor will find a free-enterprise system that has lifted millions from poverty.
As lay Catholics, one of us a “cradle” Catholic, and one of us a convert, we add our warm welcome to you, Pope Francis, on your upcoming pastoral visit to the United States.
Americans deeply admire—and share—your commitment, as affirmed in your inaugural Mass, “to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest.” In that same Mass you called on all of us to share in this service to the person “so that the star of hope will shine brightly.”
Americans know this service well. Our nation was founded precisely on the basis of protecting the person. Our founders proclaimed the “self-evident” truth that all men are created equal and endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.