--- description: Congressional leaders used the occasion of Francis' first anniversary as Pope to invite him to Washington. President Obama is going to the Vatican to meet with His Holiness on March 27 title: Pope Francis Anniversary: Boehner and Pelosi Invite Him to Congress image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc38c56b96fb4e87/6986854d1eebf74a8d36fcd3/pope-francis.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Boehner and Pelosi Invite Pope Francis to Congress by [Elizabeth Dias](/author/elizabeth-dias/) ## Elizabeth Dias Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 13, 2014 7:00 PM CUT  Pope Francis holds his weekly general audience on March 5, 2014 at St. Peter's square in Vatican City. Pope Francis holds his weekly general audience on March 5, 2014 at St. Peter's square in Vatican City.Andreas Solara—AFP/Getty Images by [Elizabeth Dias](/author/elizabeth-dias/) ## Elizabeth Dias Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 13, 2014 7:00 PM CUT Happy one-year anniversary, Pope Francis: You are invited to come to Congress. Almost one year to the minute after Pope Francis was named Benedict XVI’s successor, House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday afternoon that they were formally inviting the [popular](http://time.com/13531/pope-francis-catholics-popular/ "undefined") Holy Father to address Congress. President Barack Obama is going to the Vatican to meet with His Holiness on March 27, and the Holy See has not announced formal plans to visit the United States. Pope Francis has made it clear that his [priorities for international visits](http://time.com/13161/pope-francis-willing-to-evaluate-civil-unions-but-no-embrace-of-gay-marriage/ "undefined") are the Holy Land, Asia, and then Africa. Congress could use some peace-building right about now. Leaders appear divided even on inviting the Pope: Boehner and Pelosi, both Catholics, issued the invitation, but Boehner did not include Pelosi’s name in his announcement of the invitation. Pelosi’s statement: --- > “” --- Boehner’s statement: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/23805/pope-francis-john-boehner-nancy-pelosi-congress/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/23805/pope-francis-john-boehner-nancy-pelosi-congress/"},"headline":"Boehner and Pelosi Invite Pope Francis to Congress","datePublished":"2014-03-13T19:00:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:45:38.552Z","description":"Congressional leaders used the occasion of Francis' first anniversary as Pope to invite him to Washington. President Obama is going to the Vatican to meet with His Holiness on March 27","url":"https://time.com/23805/pope-francis-john-boehner-nancy-pelosi-congress/","keywords":["Congress","Religion","Pope Francis topic","John Boehner","Vatican","faith","nancy pelosi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc38c56b96fb4e87/6986854d1eebf74a8d36fcd3/pope-francis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Elizabeth Dias","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/elizabeth-dias/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc38c56b96fb4e87/6986854d1eebf74a8d36fcd3/pope-francis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pope Francis holds his weekly general audience on March 5, 2014 at St. Peter's square in Vatican City.","caption":"Pope Francis holds his weekly general audience on March 5, 2014 at St. Peter's square in Vatican City.","creditText":"Andreas Solara—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/23805/pope-francis-john-boehner-nancy-pelosi-congress/","name":"Boehner and Pelosi Invite Pope Francis to Congress"}}]}] ```