The Pope's Moral Lesson

The Pope's address to the US Congress has a historic significance as he spoke to the most powerful country to remind the congressmen their duties and responsibilities. Most of his words derive from the Church's social doctrine.

His main message is summarized in this part of the speech, where he recalled the pursuit of common good as the mission of politics.

All political activity must serve and promote the good of the human person and be based on respect for his or her dignity. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" (Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776). 

If politics must truly be at the service of the human person, it follows that it cannot be a slave to the economy and finance. Politics is, instead, an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one the greatest common good: that of a community which sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social life" 
P.S:  The Pope expresses a progressive view of the world and its modernity and without him the world would be much worse.