Midday Roundup: Washington rolls out the red carpet for Pope Francis

Popemania. Pope Francis traveled through Washington, D.C., this morning in a slow-moving motorcade past throngs of excited well-wishers on his way to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House. During the arrival ceremony, the pope praised the president’s position on climate change, as expected. “Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution,” he said. “Accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation.” The pope will hold mass in the capital later today and address a joint session of Congress tomorrow. Vatican watchers expect Francis to offer applause lines to both parties, with comments on diverse issues in American politics such as climate change, abortion, and marriage.

Presidential pardons. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned 100 prisoners today, including three journalists jailed for broadcasting news deemed harmful to the state. Earlier this month, an Egyptian court sentenced Al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy of Canada, Baher Mohamed of Egypt, and Peter Greste of Australia to three years in prison. It was the second time the men faced the charges. Their trial caused an international uproar, and activists used it to point to Egypt’s crackdown on personal and press freedoms following the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi two years ago. The journalists maintained their innocence throughout their trials. Today’s pardons also include prisoners jailed for violating a 2013 law banning protests without a permit.

New homes. European Union homeland ministers reached a tentative agreement Tuesday on how to distribute at least some of the Middle Eastern refugees pouring into Europe. EU member states will resettle 120,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq, distributed according to the host countries’ population and economy. Under the agreement, entry-point nations such as Greece, Italy, and Hungary will get some relief from the overwhelming numbers arriving by air, sea and land. But the 120,000 represent a fraction of those already in Europe, and the ministers did not discuss how to stem the flow of humanity from the war-torn Middle East. Germany alone expects more than 800,000 refugees this year.

On second thought. The head of a U.S. pharmaceutical company now says it will reconsider its decision to raise the price of a drug used to treat infections that can be life-threatening for people with suppressed immune systems. Turing Pharmaceutical recently acquired the rights to Daraprim, a decades-old drug, and raised the price from $13 a pill to $750. Turing CEO Martin Shkreli initially told Bloomberg News the prior owners were giving the medication away and his company needed to make a profit to continue manufacturing Daraprim. “If there’s a company that was selling an Aston-Martin at the price of a bicycle and we buy that company and we ask to charge Toyota prices, I don’t think that should be a crime,” Shkreli said. Turing will not deny the drug to patients who can’t afford the higher price, and it will use profits from the sale of Daraprim to research new, more effective treatments.

Sing on. A federal judge has ruled the song “Happy Birthday to You” is part of the public domain, wiping out Warner/Chappell Music’s right to collect royalties any time it’s used. The longstanding copyright protection for the song brought the company about $2 million a year, although most Hollywood directors chose to use other birthday songs in their productions to avoid paying fees. The copyright rule also prevented restaurants from using the tune to serenade their customers, prompting a plethora of proprietary birthday songs. Warner/Chappell Music has not said yet whether it will appeal the decision.

In memorium. Christian author and writing coach Phyllis Tickle died yesterday after a short battle with lung cancer. She was 81. Tickle founded the religion department of Publishers Weekly in 1991 and helped direct the careers of dozens of Christian writers and poets. She taught at Furman University and Rhodes College before serving as Dean of Humanities at the Memphis College of Art. She was a lector and lay eucharistic minister in the Episcopal Church.

WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard and Jim Henry contributed to this report.