Resurrection High School’s 650 students took time from their studies Sept. 24 to witness a historic occasion: the first time a pope addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. The students were taking their seats in the gym as the sergeant at arms of the House of Representatives announced the “Pope of the Holy See,” reminding the audience in the chamber and all over the country that Pope Francis came both as a moral leader and a head of state. It was one of several such viewing sessions held in schools and other institutions throughout the archdiocese. In his nearly hour-long talk, Pope Francis invoked the memories of four iconic Americans — Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton — as he urged lawmakers to always serve the common good. That message came through clearly to senior Nina Stuckel, who said that message resonates with students. Students also knew a bit beforehand about the pope’s emphasis on climate change. “I knew he was super big on the environment,” she said. She and her classmate, Maureen Gillespie, said they liked that he spoke in favor using technology responsibly and wisely to help solve the problems facing the world. “He seemed to be very pragmatic,” Stuckel said. They also liked that he admonished adults to pay attention to the challenges facing young people. “There’s a lot going on,” Gillespie said, “and sometimes it seems like they are leaving it to our generation to solve.” Marianne Boe, chairman of the high school’s social science department, spoke following the pope to help put his remarks in context. “Our highest law is the Constitution,” she reminded students. “And that starts with the words, ‘We the people,’ and it goes on to talk about the common good.” School Sister of St. Francis Mary Ann Meyer, chairman of the school’s religious studies department, focused on the pope’s references to “Laudato Si’,” the encyclical released last summer. While most of the focus has been on what the document said about the environment, it spoke about the need to care for all of creation, including humanity. That correlates directly with Pope Francis’ statements to Congress that each person is made in the image of God and has inalienable dignity, she said. “He said each one of us is willed, each one of is loved, each one of us is necessary,” Sister Mary Ann said. That means that all people all are called on to help the people the pope spoke of in his address, “immigrants, refugees, the most vulnerable among us, the poor, the abused, the youth with all the challenges you face today.” Religion teacher Bradley Mulick added to that theme. “When you understand that everyone is made in the image of the living God, then that changes the way you act,” Mulick said. “It changes the way you act as an individual, it changes the way we as a society carry out laws,” Pope Francis has become a popular pope with young people by being accessible to them in new ways, he said. He engages them in their desire to make a difference in the world, Mulick said, and tells them to work for the vulnerable as Jesus did. He also participates a bit in their culture, he said. “When the pope poses for a selfie with young people, that shows his sense of fun and his willingness to engage with young people,” Mulick said. “It makes the church seem less stuffy.”