A West Virginia state senator who attended a welcoming ceremony for Pope Francis at the White House said the atmosphere there was "electric" Wednesday morning during His Holiness's visit.
"It was a very moving speech that he conveyed in English," Sen. Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, said after the ceremony. "He ended it with 'God bless America,' which I thought was interesting and very appropriate."
Kessler was one of 11,000 people who attended the ceremony on the White House lawn.
Pope Francis spoke about the environment, climate change and immigration among other things.
Kessler, a Catholic, said the pope's message of love and reaching out to immigrants and refugees was "spot on." Kessler said the crowd included people of many nationalities and religions. Despite the heightened sense of security, the crowded moved smoothly, he said. Extra security procedures included patdowns, metal detectors and security personnel looking through the wallets of crowd members, he said.
Kessler said it was interesting to watch the pope pull up to the White House in a modest Fiat 500L.
"It was not at all ostentatious," he said.
Monsignor Edward Sadie, the rector at Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Charleston, came to the ceremony as a guest of Sen. Joe Manchin. Sadie arrived in D.C. Tuesday on a private plane flown by church member Tom Lane, an attorney and Charleston city councilman.
Sadie said he sat on the sixth row during the ceremony and was within 50 feet of President Obama and Pope Francis.
"It was a wonderful experience," Sadie said. "I enjoyed very much hearing the pope."
Sadie said he was also impressed with the president's address.
"I thought it was one of the finest talks I've ever heard Obama give," Sadie said.
Sadie said the members of the crowd were friendly.
"I have had people stop me on the street and ask if I'm here to see the pope," Sadie said. "They walk up and say 'Can you take my picture?' Everyone is passing phones around ... It's really a marvelous atmosphere."
Sadie and Lane spoke to the Gazette-Mail while they ate lunch a cafe near the Willard InterContinental hotel, where they stayed.
Lane said he walked Sadie to the White House lawn and then walked back to the hotel to watch the pope's address on television. They had only one ticket and Lane would not have been able to see the ceremony from outside the lawn, he said.
Lane and Sadie planned to have dinner with Manchin on Wednesday evening and then attend Pope Francis' address to a joint session of Congress today. Lane will be the guest of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and Sadie will be Manchin's guest. Capito had invited her pastor, Bill McCoy of First Presbyterian Church in Charleston, but McCoy was unable to attend, a spokeswoman for Capito said.
"It's been an amazing experience," Lane said.
Reach Lori Kersey at ori.kersey@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1240 or follow @LorikerseyWV on Twitter.