Senator Reverend Warnock, the Senior Pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, will have a Papal Audience with Pope Francis this Saturday

ICYMI from the AJC: Warnock headed to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) will have a Papal Audience with Pope Francis in Vatican City this Saturday. As a pastor and a U.S. Senator for Georgia, the Senator looks forward to discussing how the Pope models his faith in the public square. He deeply admires the Pope’s efforts to center humanity in public life—from addressing poverty and hunger, to fighting the climate crisis, to promoting peace. The Senator hopes to hear from the Pope how he uses his Christian faith to build bridges amid the growing divisions in our society. The Senator will be accompanied at his meeting with the Pope by Ambassador to the Holy See Joe Donnelly.

“I live every day in this intersection of faith and public life, faith and public policy,” Senator Reverend Warnock told the AJC.“He does it in a very different context. So, as I consider the work that I’m doing in Georgia around centering the needs of poor people, addressing the issue of global poverty and starvation, his is such an important voice.”

While on his Congressional Delegation to Rome, Senator Warnock is also expected to participate in several meetings designed to aid his work on behalf of Georgia through the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, including: 

• A briefing and tour of the NATO Defense College, as the U.S. continues working to strengthen the global alliance for democracy and transatlantic security amid Russia’s war in Ukraine;
• A roundtable discussion with officials from the U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome, the U.S. Embassy in Italy, and the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See on the role of faith-based organizations in humanitarian and development assistance, as Senator Warnock continues pushing to provide humanitarian relief to crisis zones around the world, especially Gaza;
• A meeting with Ambassador Jeffrey Prescott, U.S. Representative to the U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome
• A meeting with Executive Director of the World Food Programme Cindy McCain, as companies in Georgia continue playing a leading role in providing Ready-To-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) to address hunger worldwide.

Read key excerpts from Senator Warnock’s conversation with the AJC:

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Warnock headed to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis

April 18, 2024

• U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is headed to Italy later today for a meeting with the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

• Warnock’s visit with Pope Francis is scheduled for Saturday at the Vatican. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he is excited about meeting to talk about their shared interests, such as providing services to the poor and addressing climate change.

• The senator, who continues to pull double duty as pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, said he was honored to meet with a religious leader he had long admired as a barrier breaker. Francis is the first Jesuit to be chosen as pontiff and the first from the Americas.

• “He comes out of a kind of theological bent that tends to center the poor,” Warnock said. “And we see this in his ministry: the humble ways in which he prostrates himself before the poor, even prisoners, washing their feet. This is the love ethic of Jesus, and I have been inspired by him.”

• Warnock will be accompanied at the Vatican by Joe Donnelly, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See and a former congressman from Indiana.

• The senator’s itinerary in Rome will also include a briefing and tour of the NATO Defense College, a roundtable discussion with officials from the United Nations and U.S. embassies to discuss the role of faith-based organizations in humanitarian aid in places such as the Gaza Strip, and a meeting with Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Programme and widow of the late Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain.

• The trip is an official one coordinated through his Senate office. Warnock’s office said he will use the time to gather information that will aid his work on behalf of Georgia in the Senate.

• But Warnock made it clear that the time with Pope Francis is among the highlights for him.

• “I live every day in this intersection of faith and public life, faith and public policy,” the Atlanta Democrat said. “He does it in a very different context. So, as I consider the work that I’m doing in Georgia around centering the needs of poor people, addressing the issue of global poverty and starvation, his is such an important voice.”

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