Pope's Welcome at the White House

I upgraded my cable to get EWCN, Mother Angelica's Catholic news network, just in time this morning!  The ceremony held at the White House to welcome Pope Benedict was quite something, we don't get pageantry like that very often. 

Things I noticed: the crowd spontaneously singing "Happy Birthday" to the Pope before the formal ceremony began... President Bush tapping his foot to the U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps performing Yankee Doodle.... the gorgeous singing of the the Our Father by American soprano Kathleen Battle, and Battle Hymn of the Republic by a military choir.  Bush got a lot of applause during his speech for this line:

"In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred, and that "each of us is willed, each of us is loved, and each of us is necessary."

I saw Archbishop Sean O'Malley in the crowd and local imam Talal Eid too.

I love the Pope's wave to the crowd, he puts his hands up and wiggles his fingers. The EWTN correspondent likened it to playing the piano in the air.

The Pope's words are here, and the President's remarks are here.