Pope Francis Makes Historic Visit to the U.S.

He's one sneaky pope!

Even though he was the most-watched person in Washington yesterday, Pope Francis was still able to get an under-the-wire visit in out of the public glare.

Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said at a press conference on Wednesday evening that the pope had an unscheduled meeting with the Little Sisters of the Poor as a “sign of support” for their opposition against a federal contraception mandate.

Their home is across the street from Catholic University, which is where the canonization mass was held early Wednesday evening.

What's ahead for the day:

Pope Francis addresses a joint meeting of Congress at 9:20 a.m., becoming the first pope to ever do so.

At 11:15 a.m., he will visit St. Patrick's Parish, which is the oldest Catholic church in D.C. There he will bless the clients at a meals program there and he will have lunch among the homeless who are served there.

He's headed back to Andrews Air Force Base at 4 p.m. for his flight to New York, where he'll land at JFK Airport at 5 p.m.

Barring traffic (and considering there will be some major road blocks put in place for his visit), Pope Francis will arrive at St. Patrick's Cathedral at around 6:45 p.m., in time for the evening prayer service. That will only be open to the clergy of the Cathedral, but there will be groups of students inside as well.

As always, keep track of the events and his movements on our interactive map and schedule here.

From ABC News' Chief White House Correspondent Jon Karl, who is inside Congress:

Inside the House Chamber, members of Congress are milling around, getting ready to hear a Pope address the U.S. Congress for the first time in history.

It's a big speech, of course, more historically significant than your run-of-the-mill State of the Union Address. After all, we get one of those every year.

State of the Union speeches never fail to feature the spectacle of members of Congress arriving at the crack of dawn to reserve seats along the center aisle. An aisle seat guarantees a a second or two of face time with the President on national TV as he enters the chamber.

Not this speech. In a bid for decorum, the Congressional leadership has reserved all the aisle seats -- all to be allocated to members who will resist the urge to reach out and touch the Pope (or get a Papal selfie).

As I look out at the House floor right now, I can see some of the usual suspects jockeying for seats near the aisle -- there's Sheila Jackson Lee (she was the very first member of Congress in the chamber this morning) and Eliot Engel, both fixtures along the aisle for State of the Union addresses. But no matter how early they got here, they couldn't get aisle seats. They can't even get the seats next to the aisle -- two rows along the center aisle are reserved for leadership -- for members who will do their best to block the attention seekers from trying to reach out for a little Papal touch before a national audience.

So what is happening now? The third and fourth rows along the aisle are filling up ...

The pope has been spotted! Pope Francis has left the nunciature, and is shaking hands with well-wishers before getting in the papal Fiat.

From ABC News' Ali Weinberg in Washington D.C.:

Pope Francis is in his little black Fiat, on his way to the Capitol. He was 2 minutes ahead of schedule but his ETA is still 9:15 AM.

Pope Francis has arrived at Capitol Hill. Now just about 45 minutes to go until he is expected to actually deliver his historic speech. abcn.ws

Boehner called the chamber to order at 9:45.

And when Pope Francis walks into a room, he rolls deep. Here's the list of his Congressional escorts, but this isn't the complete list because there are a whole host of additional Senators:

Republicans
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (California)
Majority Whip Steve Scalise (Louisiana)
Republican Conference Chair Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (Washington)
NRCC Chairman Rep. Greg Walden (Oregon)
Republican Policy Committee Chairman Rep. Luke Messer (Indiana)
Republican Conference Vice-Chair Rep. Lynn Jenkins (Kansas)
Republican Conference Secretary Rep. Virginia Foxx (North Carolina)

Democrats
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (California)
Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (Maryland)
Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn (South Carolina)
Dem Caucus Chairman Rep. Xavier Becerra (California)
Rep. Joe Crowley (New York)
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Connecticut)
Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (New Mexico)

Spotted: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, wearing purple.

Spotted: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power. She'll be hearing him address the general assembly in New York tomorrow morning. #doublebooked

Pope Francis to the joint meeting:

"You are the face of its people, their representatives. You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics."

"We know that no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. This means that we must be especially attentive to every type of fundamentalism, whether religious or of any other kind," Pope Francis just said.

Water/applause/page break.

House rules dictate that members and guests are not allowed to snap photos in the chambers but some politicians are breaking that rule. We're keeping track of the rule breakers (and sharing their photos with you).

Spotted: Sen. Marco Rubio tearing up at the pope's line about immigrants.