WASHINGTON. – Pope Francis addressed Congress Thursday morning on a variety of current events and issues, but perhaps the most inspiring part of his message was on one of the seminal points in Alabama’s civil rights history.

The violent and traumatic events of the marches from Selma to Montgomery, which are depicted in the recent film “Selma,” are credited with helping to trigger the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibited the voting disenfranchisement of African Americans. The Pope praised the Selma-to-Montgomery march as “an expression of our compelling need to live as one.”

Citing Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the Pope explained that the civil rights movement reflects how Americans are both dreamers and doers.

“Here too I think of the march which Martin Luther King led from Selma to Montgomery fifty years ago as part of the campaign to fulfill his “dream” of full civil and political rights for African-Americans,” Pope Francis said. “That dream continues to inspire us all. I am happy that America continues to be, for many, a land of ‘dreams’. Dreams which lead to action, to participation, to commitment. Dreams which awaken what is deepest and truest in the life of a people.”

The Pope’s words were inspiring to many civil rights veterans, including Alabama Senator Hank Sanders, who says the event is a symbol that reaches far beyond America.

“In Africa, people asked me about it,” said Sanders. “In India, people asked me about it. In Brazil and Argentina, people asked me about it. It’s s symbol all over the world.”

Sanders organizes commemorations of the Selma march every year, and even invited Pope Francis to visit Selma this past summer.

However, only New York City and Washington D.C. are on the itinerary for this American visit from Pope Francis.

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