I can see how some might see Pope Francis as something of a radical leftist, at least in areas that don’t touch too directly on the central tenets of the Catholic faith. I hope it’s the case that he’s less of a radical than a shift from the politics of his two immediate predecessors. What’s amusing, however, is that he’s making Republican Catholic politicians uneasy less by being leftist than by being sane.
Here are some examples:
Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana is having trouble explaining why he’s promoting Creationism when the pope says that the Big Bang Theory and the Theory of Evolution are consistent with the Catholic faith.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida is feeling the need to apologize for opposing our country’s rapprochement with Cuba because the pope enthusiastically endorsed this change in policy.
Former senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania is uncomfortable with the pope’s recent statement that there is no need for Catholics to “breed like rabbits.”
Then there’s the pope’s recent statements about the excesses of capitalism, his tolerant remarks about gays, his recommendation that the clergy place less emphasis on social controversies like abortion, his recognition of Palestinian statehood and, especially, his strong push to get Catholics to take global warming seriously.
Jeb Bush presents an interesting case. He’s a convert to Catholicism, which always places some unusual pressures on a person. It also shines a brighter light on one’s faith because it is freely chosen and not just something gifted to you by your parents. If Protestantism was good enough to get your father and brother elected president, what’s so bad about it, anyway? There are a lot of evangelical Christians in Iowa who will want to know the answer to that question, and they’ll be less understanding when they hear Bush praising this pope than they will be about someone who was brought up in that faith. In fact, the pope’s positions of political issues are so far afield from Republican orthodoxy that even some Catholic Republicans look askance at Jeb when he says kind things about Francis.
“In northwest Iowa, we are discussing this a great deal, and sometimes it’s hard for us to reconcile the pronouncements we read from the Holy Father with our conservative principles,” said Sam Clovis, a Catholic and political activist who’s run for U.S. Senate and state treasurer in Iowa…
…“It’s going to cause a lot of problems for Jeb Bush, because Republicans are simply not going to take him seriously,” he said…
…Clovis, for one, predicts that as Francis becomes more visible in American politics, his fellow conservative Catholics will put party above church. “Rather than being Catholic Republicans, they’re going to be Republicans first and Catholics second,” he said. “If Bush vocally and loudly aligns himself with the pope, that’s a general election strategy, that’s not a primary strategy.”
There seems to be a lot about Jeb’s strategy that is more focused on the general election than the primary season. And it could definitely cost him the nomination. It’s probably the case that Jeb has decided that it’s not worth having the nomination if he has to give up any chance of beating Hillary Clinton in order to get it. And I don’t think his family wants to lose to the Clintons again. He wouldn’t be running if he didn’t have an idea for how to win, but his strategy to beat her may not be consistent with getting the chance to try.
Of course, Jeb is not the only Catholic Republican seeking the nomination, and the others are more established in the faith and more willing to create some distance from the pope. But that creates its own problems. They’re constantly on the defensive, and the party needs to maintain some appeal to the white Catholic vote because it is the Democrats’ strongest demographic among whites. The GOP also needs to repair some of the damage that they’ve done with the Latino vote, and the pope’s politics have a definite South American flavor and a natural appeal to Latin Americans and their American counterparts. Just as insulting President Obama only ramps up black turnout, creating separation from the pope can create separation from a lot of devout Latinos.
In any case, if the reason that you’re not okay with Pope Francis is because you don’t believe in evolution or climate change, want to maintain an embargo on Cuba, oppose contraception, and dislike gays, then you’re going to have growing political problems going forward.
There are 6 RCs on the Supreme Court, five of whom should be feeling a bit uncomfortable about the pope’s declarations as well. Those 5 have done as much as any politician to advance capitalism in this country.
>sometimes it’s hard for us to reconcile the pronouncements we read from the Holy Father with our conservative principles…<
Yeah, I bet.
But not nearly as hard as reconciling his conservative principles with the teachings of Jesus.
So sad and so true.
I find it very interesting that the GOP members state they will be Party members first and Catholics second. Making that statement that you will support a party who’s stated policies directly counteract the teachings of the Church and the Holy Bible. The implication then is that these people are not in fact members of the church. They like the title but not the teachings.
Wow! That IS radical!
Now, can we dare hope for a ruling that a blastula has no soul? Maybe not even a fetus with a guppy-sized brain?
Not a chance. Of course I support the right to abort a fetus. It would be horrible and beyond tragic to return to the days of the coat hanger. That said, even I, a liberal, see each individual abortion as a sad and tragic event.
When my wife was 12 weeks pregnant, we were introduced to our son via an ultrasound. I have a video of him jumping up and down in the womb and no one can convince me that that little one wasn’t the same kid who came into the world 8 months later and is now almost 10 months old. I call him my monkey-monk because he has the energy of a little monkey, jumping constantly and squealing with delight. I first saw that energy on the ultrasound at 12 weeks in utero, long before he had a brain that could account for it. Neither of my other two children carry that particular energy. Each child came into the world with a distinct and unique energy that crystallized over time into a full personality. In other words, I’m convinced there is an essence that each of us has from very early on and is not about the brain.
I can’t imagine that any religion would adopt the sort of reductionist view that holds human essence as a function of the brain alone.
Do you really think the morning after pill is murder?
It was pretty clear that Obama’s “evolution” on same sex marriage flipped a large number of African American’s opinions on the subject.
I wonder what effect Francis will have on rank and file Catholics?
Props for the shot at quiverfull.
What I’ve always liked about Francis is that as Pope he always appears willing to put aside differences in one area to work together in another.