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+Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington

Once again, I am happy to greet you and the participants of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast as you gather here in Washington to offer prayers for our Church and our nation in support of each other as we strive to serve the two.

You meet this morning during a very special time in the life of our Church. The death of our beloved Pope John Paul II still continues to bring back those great memories of his wonderful service for more than a quarter century as our shepherd and our leader. The initiation of this new Pontificate, under the care of our new Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, brings us a special moment when we can all join together in thanking God for this great new Vicar of Christ and for the gifts that he brings to the Church at this challenging time of opportunity.

Bringing our Catholic brothers and sisters together to pray for each other, for all our good neighbors throughout the land and for God’s blessings upon these United States is truly a worthy cause. I am so pleased that you gather here in the nation’s capital and in the Archdiocese of Washington. I am happy that Archbishop Chaput, who has been a great leader in continuing to bring us all together in faith and love, will be the keynote speaker today. My thanks to him and to all of you on this significant occasion. It is a special privilege for all of us that the President of the United States would come to greet us personally. What a great honor this is and, in a special way, how the gracious gift of his presence reminds us that we Catholics are called to be faithful citizens and must continue to strive for the values on which our nation has been founded and which it must continue to foster in these critical days.

If I can share just one memory with you of the Conclave and the funeral of the Holy Father that preceded it. It was the Wednesday evening before the extraordinary funeral of Pope John Paul II, that funeral which we believe to have been the largest funeral in the history of the human race. One evening, watching television in the seminary where I was staying, I saw the casket of His Holiness Pope John Paul II and watched with great awe and appreciation three Presidents of the United States kneel before the body of this beloved Pope and pay their respects to him and to the work that he had accomplished over more than a quarter century. Under the leadership of President Bush, his father and President Clinton came together as part of the United States presidential delegation. It made me so proud to be an American and so proud to consider that the leadership of our country wanted to pay this tribute to this good and holy man who had led the Church for a quarter century and brought so many blessings to our nation and to the world. It is one of the many deep and lasting memories that I will bring back from this memorable, historic time of the end of the loving service of John Paul II and the beginning of what we know will be the great Pontificate of Benedict XVI.

Thank you very much.