and distinct honor of presenting to you, Pope francis of the Holy See.

Mr. Vice-President,

Mr. Speaker,

Honorable Members of Congress,

Dear Friends,

I am most grateful for your invitation to address this Joint Session of Congress in

“the land of the free and the home of the brave”. I would like to think that the reason

for this is that I too am a son of this great continent, from which we have all received

so much and toward which we share a common responsibility.

Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility.

Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative

activity, to grow as a nation. You are the face of its people, their representatives.

You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless

and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics.

A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by

stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater

vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always based on care for the people. To

this you have been invited, called and convened by those who elected you.

Yours is a work which makes me reflect in two ways on the figure of Moses. On the one

hand, the patriarch and lawgiver of the people of Israel symbolizes the need of peoples to

keep alive their sense of unity by means of just legislation. On the other, the figure

of Moses leads us directly to God and thus to the transcendent dignity of the human being.

Moses provides us with a good synthesis of your work: you are asked to protect, by means

of the law, the image and likeness fashioned by God on every human face.

Today I would like not only to address you, but through you the entire people of the United

States. Here, together with their representatives, I would like to take this opportunity to dialogue

with the many thousands of men and women who strive each day to do an honest day’s work,

to bring home their daily bread, to save money and –one step at a time – to build a better

life for their families. These are men and women who are not concerned simply with paying

their taxes, but in their own quiet way sustain the life of society. They generate solidarity

by their actions, and they create organizations which offer a helping hand to those most in

need. I would also like to enter into dialogue with

the many elderly persons who are a storehouse of wisdom forged by experience, and who seek

in many ways, especially through volunteer work, to share their stories and their insights.

I know that many of them are retired, but still active; they keep working to build up

this land. I also want to dialogue with all those young people who are working to realize

their great and noble aspirations, who are not led astray by facile proposals, and who

face difficult situations, often as a result of immaturity on the part of many adults.

I wish to dialogue with all of you, and I would like to do so through the historical

memory of your people.

My visit takes place at a time when men and women of good will are marking the anniversaries

of several great Americans. The complexities of history and the reality of human weakness

notwithstanding, these men and women, for all their many differences and limitations,

were able by hard work and self-sacrifice – some at the cost of their lives – to

build a better future. They shaped fundamental values which will endure forever in the spirit

of the American people. A people with this spirit can live through many crises, tensions

and conflicts, while always finding the resources to move forward, and to do so with dignity.

These men and women offer us a way of seeing and interpreting reality. In honoring their

memory, we are inspired, even amid conflicts, and in the here and now of each day, to draw

upon our deepest cultural reserves.

I would like to mention four of these Americans: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy

Day and Thomas Merton.

This year marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President

Abraham Lincoln, the guardian of liberty, who labored tirelessly that “this nation,

under God, [might] have a new birth of freedom”. Building a future of freedom requires love

of the common good and cooperation in a spirit of subsidiarity and solidarity.

All of us are quite aware of, and deeply worried by, the disturbing social and political situation

of the world today. Our world is increasingly a place of violent conflict, hatred and brutal

atrocities, committed even in the name of God and of religion. We know that no religion

is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. This means that

we must be especially attentive to every type of fundamentalism, whether religious or of

any other kind. A delicate balance is required to combat violence perpetrated in the name

of a religion, an ideology or an economic system, while also safeguarding religious

freedom, intellectual freedom and individual freedoms. But there is another temptation

which we must especially guard against: the simplistic reductionism which sees only good

or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners. The contemporary world, with its

open wounds which affect so many of our brothers and sisters, demands that we confront every

form of polarization which would divide it into these two camps. We know that in the

attempt to be freed of the enemy without, we can be tempted to feed the enemy within.

To imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their

place. That is something which you, as a people, reject.

Our response must instead be one of hope and healing, of peace and justice. We are asked

to summon the courage and the intelligence to resolve today’s many geopolitical and

economic crises. Even in the developed world, the effects of unjust structures and actions

are all too apparent. Our efforts must aim at restoring hope, righting wrongs, maintaining

commitments, and thus promoting the well-being of individuals and of peoples. We must move

forward together, as one, in a renewed spirit of fraternity and solidarity, cooperating

generously for the common good.

The

challenges facing us today call for a renewal of that spirit of cooperation, which has accomplished

so much good throughout the history of the United States. The complexity, the gravity

and the urgency of these challenges demand that we pool our resources and talents, and

resolve to support one another, with respect for our differences and our convictions of

conscience.

In this land, the various religious denominations have greatly contributed to building and strengthening

society. It is important that today, as in the past, the voice of faith continue to be

heard, for it is a voice of fraternity and love, which tries to bring out the best in

each person and in each society. Such cooperation is a powerful resource in the battle to eliminate

new global forms of slavery, born of grave injustices which can be overcome only through

new policies and new forms of social consensus.

Politics is, instead, an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to

build as one the greatest common good: that of a community which sacrifices particular

interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social

life. I do not underestimate the difficulty that this involves, but I encourage you in

this effort.

Here too I think of the march which Martin Luther King led from Selma to Montgomery fifty

years ago as part of the campaign to fulfill his “dream” of full civil and political

rights for African Americans. That dream continues to inspire us all. I am happy that America

continues to be, for many, a land of “dreams”. Dreams which lead to action, to participation,

to commitment. Dreams which awaken what is deepest and truest in the life of a people.

In recent centuries, millions of people came to this land to pursue their dream of building

a future in freedom. We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners,

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 descended from immigrants. Tragically, the rights of those who were here long before

us were not always respected. For those peoples and their nations, from the heart of American

democracy, I wish to reaffirm my highest esteem and appreciation. Those first contacts were

often turbulent and violent, but it is difficult to judge the past by the criteria of the present.

Nonetheless, when the stranger in our midst appeals to us, we must not repeat the sins

and the errors of the past. We must resolve now to live as nobly and as justly as possible,

as we educate new generations not to turn their back on our “neighbors” and everything

around us. Building a nation calls us to recognize that we must constantly relate to others,

rejecting a mindset of hostility in order to adopt one of reciprocal subsidiarity, in

a constant effort to do our best. I am confident that we can do this.

Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World

War. This presents us with great challenges and many hard decisions. 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 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. To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal.

We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let

us remember the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Mt

7:12).

This Rule points us in a clear direction. Let us treat others with the same passion

and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities

which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves.

In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life;

if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the

yardstick which time will use for us. The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility

to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development.

This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels

for the global abolition of the death penalty. I am convinced that this way is the best,

since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and

society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. Recently my

brother bishops here in the United States renewed their call for the abolition of the

death penalty. Not only do I support them, but I also offer encouragement to all those

who are convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension

of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.

In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant

of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement. Her social activism, her

passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her

faith, and the example of the saints.How much progress has been made in this area in so

many parts of the world! How much has been done in these first years of the third millennium

to raise people out of extreme poverty! I know that you share my conviction that much

more still needs to be done, and that in times of crisis and economic hardship a spirit of

global solidarity must not be lost. At the same time I would encourage you to keep in

mind all those people around us who are trapped in a cycle of poverty. They too need to be

given hope. The fight against poverty and hunger must be fought constantly and on many

fronts, especially in its causes. I know that many Americans today, as in the past, are

working to deal with this problem.

It goes without saying that part of this great effort is the creation and distribution of

wealth. The right use of natural resources, the proper application of technology and the

harnessing of the spirit of enterprise are essential elements of an economy which seeks

to be modern, inclusive and sustainable. “Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing

wealth and improving the world. It can be a fruitful

source of prosperity for the area in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation

of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good” (Laudato Si’, 129).

This common good also includes the earth, a central theme of the encyclical which I

recently wrote in order to “enter into dialogue with all people about our common home” (ibid.,

3). “We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge

we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all” (ibid., 14).

In Laudato Si’, I call for a courageous and responsible effort to “redirect our

steps” (ibid., 61), and to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration

caused by human activity. I am convinced that we can make a difference and

I have no doubt that the United States – and this Congress – have an important role to

play. Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a “culture

of care” (ibid., 231) and “an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity

to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature” (ibid., 139). “We have the freedom

needed to limit and direct technology” (ibid., 112); “to devise intelligent ways of…

developing and limiting our power” (ibid., 78); and to put technology “at the service

of another type of progress, one which is healthier, more human, more social, more integral”

(ibid., 112). In this regard, I am confident that America’s outstanding academic and

research institutions can make a vital contribution in the years ahead.

A century ago, at the beginning of the Great War, which Pope Benedict XV termed a “pointless

slaughter”, another notable American was born: the Cistercian monk Thomas Merton. He

remains a source of spiritual inspiration and a guide for many people. In his autobiography