“In his humility and his gestures at once simple and profound – embracing the sick, ministering to the homeless, washing the feet of young prisoners – he shook us out of our complacency and reminded us that we are all bound by moral obligations to God and one another,” Obama wrote in a statement along with his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama.
When he was president, Obama took the rare step of traveling to Joint Base Andrews to greet Francis at the start of the pope’s blockbuster visit to the United States in 2015.
Later, the pope led a short parade in his open-air popemobile around the South Lawn, which was crowded with thousands who had come to witness a rare papal visit to the White House, some carrying babies for the pope to kiss.