At the White House covering the visit of Pope Francis in America, Sept. 23, 2015. What a historic occasion and a first for this lola to cover Pope Francis being welcomed by President Obama. Thank you America!
I had a secret wish. I wanted to see Pope Francis in person, but also to see him in the The White House. The Higher Universe heard me, I got cleared to cover Pope Francis. It was an experience full of challenges: a) had to rebook my trip twice, one trip took me to Maryland, instead of D.C. and my name was misspelled in the ticket, which will cause security delays b) my luggage did not arrive until midnight, 7 hours after I arrived c) though I was pre-credentialed, my name was misspelled and shortened and my California DMV had more letters than press identification card d) clearing security for hundreds of media, my estimate is 500+, took 2 hours in windy and cold weather, but through it all, Secret Service are firm, but polite; Press folks are kind; White House staffers are helpful, kind and responsive. My lesson: patience is gold currency when with thousands of people. Kindness is another currency and folks are eager to help and give directions. What a great moral leader Pope Francis is – everyone is so excited to have heard him and in just a year, Pope Francis made being a Catholic so cool! Folks waited in line, some at midnight, I interviewed two who waited since 2am, to get into the South Lawn at 8am. How cool is it that three of my videos at the White House would be used by Washington Post? Read all in my article for Asian Journal.- Prosy Delacruz #pontifex #PopeinDC Pontifex