Sisters Get Unexpected Visit From Pope

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Pope Francis made an unannounced 15-minute stop Sept. 23 at a Washington, D.C., residence operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor, where he met with some 45 sisters.

Sister Constance Veit, L.S.P., communications director for the Sisters, said the pope spoke individually with each sister.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, told reporters in Washington that the visit was intended as a sign of support for the sisters’ lawsuit against the Obama administration’s mandate that all employers offer contraceptive coverage in their health plans or participate in a religious “accommodation” that the sisters have refused.

But Sister Constance said Pope Francis made no mention of the lawsuit during his visit. Rather, his message to the group was about their “mission to the elderly” and “how important it is in a society that tends to marginalize the elderly and the poor,” she told Catholic News Service Sept. 24.

“We were deeply moved by his encouraging words,” she added.

The Little Sisters did not know about the visit until after the pope’s morning meeting at the White House with President Barack Obama, she said. Pope Francis made the stop between the canonization of St. Junipero Serra at the basilica and a visit to the seminary, run by the Archdiocese of Washington.

—CNS