As Pope Francis flew to the United States for the first time, the pontiff assured journalists on the flight that he is not a liberal. Asked to comment on the many media outlets who are asking if the Pope is liberal, the Pope seemed bemused and decisive.

“Some people might say some things sounded slightly more left-ish, but that would be a mistake of interpretation,” he said before landing in the U.S. late Tuesday afternoon for his historic trip. “If you want me to pray the creed, I’m willing to do it.”

He underscored the point: “It is I who follows the church … my doctrine on all this … on economic imperialism, is that of the social doctrine of the church.”

The pontiff’s comments came as he spoke to journalists in Spanish and Italian shortly into the flight from Cuba to Washington. Pope Francis addressed the U.S. embargo on Cuba, dissidents who were arrested in Cuba during his visit and his meeting with Fidel Castro during a 26-minute briefing.

His corrective about his ideology is a significant prelude to his arrival in the U.S., as the Democratic Party has increasingly attempted to claim Francis as their policy champion over the past few months. The White House put out a memo months ago outlining the topics of shared interest that President Obama would discuss with the Pope, including immigration and climate change. Conservatives in Congress, meantime, have recently started pushing back against their perceptions of the Pope as someone who is pushing a liberal agenda.

Read the article “Pope Francis: I Am Not a Liberal” on time.com.