When Pope Francis visited Washington, New York, and Philadelphia in September 2015, he became the fourth pope to visit the United States. But his visit was more than a continuation of that papal trend; it also marked a high point of enthusiasm, from both Catholics and non-Catholics, for Francis and his vibrant message of inclusion for a global church.

Together with Daniel Sircar and Jessica Glazer, I researched and wrote a multimedia retrospective of past papal visits to the U.S., which was then published on NBC’s Owned Television Stations sites, which included NBC New York, NBC Washington, and NBC Philadelphia.