Iowa congressional delegation distributes tickets for Pope Francis visit to Washington

CEDAR RAPIDS - Even though the Washington Nationals are in the hunt for a baseball playoff berth, they're not the hottest ticket in the Capitol.

That instead would be Pope Francis, who will be in Washington, D.C., Sept. 24 to deliver the first papal address to a joint session of Congress, which is being compared with a presidential inauguration and State of the Union address wrapped into one.

And like a State of the Union, each member of Congress gets one ticket to invite a guest to sit in the House gallery.

Sen. Chuck Grassley and 2nd District Rep. Dave Loebsack are giving their tickets to their wives, Barbara and Terry, respectively.

Rep. Rod Blum has invited Roman Catholic parishes in his 1st District to nominate individuals whose names will be put into a drawing for his gallery guest. Not only will the winner get a prime seat to see the pope, Blum will personally pay for the travel expenses 'to ensure that there are no barriers for them to attend,” a spokesman said.

In addition to the House gallery seats, each member of Congress gets one seated ticket for a simulcast on the West Front of the Capitol where spectators can view the 78-year-old leader of the Catholic Church on Jumbotrons as he speaks to senators and representatives. Time permitting, Pope Francis has expressed interest in seeing the public on the West Front afterward.

HOW TO GET YOURS

Each senator gets 200 standing tickets for the simulcast and each representative gets 50.

Loebsack is giving St. Ambrose University President Sister Joan Lescinski his seated outdoor ticket. He's also working with the Catholic Diocese of Davenport and using a lottery to distribute his 50 outdoor standing-only tickets. To register for the lottery, visit loebsack.house.gov/popefrancis. The deadline is Monday.

Grassley, Ernst and Blum are making standing-only tickets to the simulcast available to constituents on a first come, first served basis.

To request tickets from Grassley, call his office at (202) 224-3744. For tickets from Ernst, contact www.ernst.senate.gov/content/contact-joni or call her office at (202) 224-3254. For tickets from Blum, contact Patrick.OGrady@mail.house.gov or his office at (202) 225-2911.

Rep. David Young is working with Catholic parishes in the 3rd District to distribute the tickets. He will announce the recipient of the House gallery seat closer to the speech, a staff member said. For stand-only tickets, call his office at (202) 225-5476.

Fourth District Rep. Steve King will announce who receives his tickets when the list is finalized, according to a spokeswoman.

People without tickets may watch Pope Francis' address by visiting www.speaker.gov/pope or on C-SPAN.