In September, the United States hosted a very special visitor from Rome – Pope Francis. Pope Francis was originally from Argentina and is the first non-European to be selected for this position. He was elected as the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church in March of 2013 and is now the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics in the world.

He arrived on Tuesday Sept. 22 after a visit in Cuba. The next day, he was formally welcomed with a ceremony at the White House with President Barack Obama. After a day of ceremonial addresses, it was time for the Pope to get down to business.

On Sept. 24, Pope Francis captivated audiences around the nation with his Address to Joint Meeting of the United States Congress. He was the first Pope to ever address Congress. Politicians were not prepared for what was to be said that morning.

Pope Francis challenged Congress and America as the mightiest nation in the world to “break out of its cycle of paralysis and use its power to heal the ‘open wounds’ of a planet torn by hatred, greed, poverty and pollution.”

Another important stop for the Pope was New York where he addressed the United Nations. During this speech he asked the world to choose environmental justice over materialism.

“Any harm done to the environment, therefore, is harm done to humanity,” he said.

His point was that the poor are the biggest victims of environmental destruction.

In Philadelphia, tens of thousands of people gathered as he rode down Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Later he met with Vice President Biden and then it was time for him to say good bye to America.

A few days after the Pope’s visit, there was an outburst from the media that the pope secretly met with Kim Davis, who became famous after her refusal to administer a marriage license to a couple due to her religious beliefs. Davis reported that the pope met with her and gave her a rosary telling her to “stay strong.”

This caused a stir within in the nation. Soon following the news of this secret meeting, the Pope and his staff released a statement regarding what really happened at this so called “secret meeting.”

In the announcement made to the public, it was noted that the Pope did in fact meet with a group of people that happened to contain Davis. He never officially met with Davis personally nor made any statement towards her in regards to her recent fame. The statement claimed that this was not the purpose nor the intention of the Pope’s visit to America.

Despite the fact that the Pope is a religious leader, he seems to be a person that common people can relate to. His emphasis on helping the poor and protecting the environment seemed to be issues that many agreed with. The last time a pope to visited America was in 2008, so maybe it won’t be so long until he visits again.