Pope Francis spoke in halting English, sometimes a whisper, pressing his flock to be stewards of the Earth ¿ a familiar Catholic homily delivered with the bearing of a humble parish priest.
He opened his unprecedented conversation with the United States by shrewdly contrasting the pomp of his grand Washington welcome with a political message conveyed in a pastor's gentle tone: The time has come to preserve the planet.
¿Climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to our future generation,¿ Francis told the crowd on the South Lawn of the White House. ¿When it comes to the care of our common home, we are living at a critical moment of history.