Pope Francis leads his traditional Wednesday General Audience at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on March 8, 2023. (Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Lawmakers showered the Holy Father with applause and two standing ovations during his address. Two Catholics were perched behind Pope Francis on the dais: then Vice President Joe Biden and former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. As vice president, Biden served as President of the Senate. As speaker, Boehner was the Constitutional officer for the legislative branch.
Boehner blotted his eyes with a handkerchief several times during the 3,400-word speech.
Pope Francis implored lawmakers to treat each other — and their constituents — with dignity.
"We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays. To discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’" he said.
Pope Francis addresses the joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24, 2015. (Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images)
Pope Francis and the entourage then walked toward Boehner’s office and onto the Speaker’s Balcony overlooking the West Front of the Capitol and down the National Mall toward the Washington Monument.
A throng assembled on the Capitol grounds.
"Buenos dias," said the Pope, greeting the crowd like he would from the "Pope’s Window" at the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican on a Sunday. "I am grateful for your presence."
He then blessed the pilgrims on the ground below.
"Papa! Papa!" the crowd chanted.
When the pope first arrived at the Capitol, he met with Boehner in the Speaker’s ceremonial office just off the House floor.
Boehner paced nervously awaiting Pope Francis on the 19th century Minton Tiles, which adorn the office.
"He’s on Boehner time," said the former speaker. "Which is on time."
Boehner wore his signature Kelly green tie for the occasion — a vintage piece of Boehner apparel, which dates back to when he served in the Ohio state legislature and first ran for Congress in 1990. When Pope Francis arrived, he told the former speaker the tie bore a "color of hope."
A few days later, Boehner choked up as he relayed a story about what Pope Francis said to him when they were about to exit the Capitol.
"We found ourselves alone," said Boehner of himself and Francis.
Pope Francis meets President Donald Trump in the Private Library of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City on May 24, 2017. (Vatican/Pool/Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori via Getty Images)
Meadows released his resolution just before the August recess — but never triggered it.
That gave Boehner and the House a month to stew over whether Meadows might try to oust the speaker when lawmakers returned in September.
On the night after the pope’s visit, Boehner called his chief of staff, Mike Sommers, to tell him he planned to step aside. Boehner also told his wife, Debbie, of his plans.
"This morning I woke up, said my prayers, as I always do, and thought, ‘This is the day I am going to do this,’" said Boehner.
Boehner then astonished a meeting of the House Republican Conference that he intended to resign.
The move sent a shock wave through Washington.
"My first job as speaker is to protect the institution," Boehner said. "It had become clear to me that this prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable harm to the institution."
The Boehner departure — the day after his encounter with Pope Francis — set into motion what some might regard as the very "prolonged leadership turmoil" that the former speaker hoped to avoid.
It was believed that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. — then the House Majority Leader — would ascend to the job. But as startling as Boehner’s departure was, McCarthy supplanted that. Moments before House Republicans were set to tap McCarthy as the next speaker, McCarthy withdrew from the contest. He lacked the votes.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., left, and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. (Getty Images)
Thus, it set into motion a five-day battle in early 2023 as McCarthy struggled for 15 rounds before winning the speakership. It was the longest speaker’s race since the mid-19th century.
But McCarthy was gone by early November.
Remember that "motion to vacate the chair" mentioned earlier?
Meadows never activated his motion in 2015. But former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., did in 2023.
McCarthy was done. And the House spent three weeks trying to elect a new speaker.
First they tried House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. Then House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Then House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.
None prevailed.
Finally, a backbencher emerged from the fray: House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
Cardinals of the Catholic Church attended the election conclave in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in Vatican City on April 18, 2005. (Arturo Mari, Vatican Pool)
It was an important day when Pope Francis spoke to a Joint Meeting of Congress in 2015. But in sheer Congressional terms, the day afterward was seismic for the nature of the institution. Boehner’s abrupt resignation ushered in an unsettled era about who presides over the House. The visit by Pope Francis and Boehner’s departure forever melded the two together in the annals of Capitol Hill.
And as a result, whenever there’s a House speaker interregnum in the future, political observers will always look for political "white smoke" to find out if lawmakers have settled on a new leader.
Chad Pergram currently serves as a senior congressional correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-smoke-boehners-encounter-pope-francis-changed-congress-forever