Pope Francis on day two of his US visit had a number of stops to make, and some enthusiastic onlookers lined the street near the Washington monument to watch him drive past in his popemobile. In this video, a person can be seen with a guitar as the crowd around breaks into song. Pope Francis was expected at the Catholic University of America, then at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to canonize Junipero Serra.
The basilica is the largest Catholic church in the United States. Junipero Serra was known as the “Apostle of California,” and his canonization will be the first on US soil.
The choice of Serra, an 18th-century Spanish missionary is controversial because of the way Native Americans were treated by the church in the process of becoming “Christianized,” forced to give up their languages, native spiritual practices and culture. Earlier this year, on a visit to Bolivia, Francis apologized for the church’s conquistador methods.
