Pope Francis received Speaker of the House and San Francisco Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi in a private audience last weekend, which she called a "spiritual, personal and official honor."
The meeting occurred on Saturday morning at the Vatican while Pelosi, along with hundreds of other lawmakers worldwide, visited Rome for a preparatory meeting before the U.N's annual climate conference.
"It was a spiritual, personal and official honor to have an audience with His Holiness Pope Francis this morning," Pelosi, who is a devout Catholic, said in a statement. "His Holiness’s leadership is a source of joy and hope for Catholics and for all people, challenging each of us to be good stewards of God’s creation, to act on climate, to embrace the refugee, the immigrant and the poor, and to recognize the dignity and divinity in everyone."
Pope Francis addressed the assembled legislators and urged them to overcome "the narrow confines" of partisan politics, and directly address the climate change.
"We owe this to the young, to future generations," he told lawmakers.
"His Holiness’s encyclical Laudato Si’ is a powerful challenge to the global community to act decisively on the climate crisis with special attention to the most vulnerable communities," Pelosi said. "I expressed the gratitude of those working on climate action in the Congress for the immense moral clarity and urgency that His Holiness continues to bring to the climate crisis, and how we continue to cherish his address to the Joint Session of Congress in 2015."
President Joe Biden, the second Catholic to ever hold the highest office in the U.S., is also scheduled to meet with the Pope.
Pelosi has met with the Pope multiple times prior to Saturday’s meeting, including in 2013 during his installation and she visited the Vatican with her grandchildren in 2017, according to Yahoo! News.
"In San Francisco, we take special pride in Pope Francis, who shares the namesake of our city and whose song of St. Francis is our anthem. 'Lord, make me a channel of thy peace. Where there is darkness, may we bring light. Where there is hatred, may we bring love. Where there is despair, may we bring hope,'" Pelosi said.
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