Friday, March 29, AD 2024 4:21am

PopeWatch: Congress

VATICAN-POPE-AUDIENCE

 

Well this strikes PopeWatch as a very bad idea:

 

House Speaker John Boehner wants Pope Francis to come to Washington D.C. and address the entire Congress. It would mark the first time the head of the Catholic Church personally spoke before Congress.

“Pope Francis has inspired millions of Americans with his pastoral manner and servant leadership, challenging all people to lead lives of mercy, forgiveness, solidarity, and humble service,” Boehner said in an email announcing that he had invited the Holy Father. “His tireless call for the protection of the most vulnerable among us – the ailing, the disadvantaged, the unemployed, the impoverished, the unborn – has awakened hearts on every continent.”

Boehner, an Ohio Republican who is Catholic, expressed admiration for the Pope’s success in getting people in the United States from all ideological and religious walks of life to examine human rights and social justice.

Boehner appeared to take a swipe at the Obama administration when he bemoaned “crony capitalism” and the “ongoing centralization of political power in the institutions of our federal government, which threaten to disrupt the delicate balance between the twin virtues of subsidiarity and solidarity.”

Go here to read the rest.  The Pope is a head of State as well as the Church, but the idea of having the Pope address Congress leaves PopeWatch feeling queasy. Such a political forum, at its worst a den of thieves, does not seem a fit venue for the Vicar of Christ.  However, Saint Paul did address the Athenian Areopagus to preach the Gospel, so perhaps the qualms of PopeWatch are misplaced.  It certainly would be fun to see anti-Catholics of all persuasions go berserk as a result up and down this great land!

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Sydney O Fernandes
Sydney O Fernandes
Saturday, March 15, AD 2014 6:54pm

Apart from the absurdity of talking to a set of men and women who are incapable of handling ordinary affairs (and whom unfortunately we elect to represent us time after time), Pope Francis is utterly incapable of saying anything unchaotic and tangled to an already addled governing body. Better he try and clean up his act teaching us Catholics without ambiguity rather than speak Italian to a body that finds it hard to understand English.

Mary Anne Sheehy
Mary Anne Sheehy
Saturday, March 15, AD 2014 10:51pm

Dear Pope Watch, i do believe, that for the first time in recorded history, anti Catholics are
Growing fond of the Roman Catholic Pope! When did we.ever see the Holy Father featured
In a kindly fashion on the cover of
Prestigious journal like ‘The Rolling Stones’? Sorry to throw cold water on the fun aspect.

I agree with Sydney. Congress and Pope would understand each other perfectly. Most of
Us would not comprehend, due mostly to the ambiguities
cast back and forth in the two tongue
Newspeak.

Trouble with your

Elizabeth Fitzmaurice
Elizabeth Fitzmaurice
Sunday, March 16, AD 2014 7:22am

I agree with Sydney. The idea of Pope Francis having anything clear, concise and thoroughly Catholic to say to members of Congress is just plain laughable.

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Sunday, March 16, AD 2014 10:16am

Pope Francis addressing Congress in Washington DC and visiting Philadelphia….there are some rather terrible ideas.

Congress needs to be addressed by a lion tamer with a whip and a chair. As for visiting Philadelphia….dear God, no. The priest abuse scandal there was worse than in Boston. A priest was convicted and put in prison, later freed on appeal. The Philadelphia Archdiocese has been closing parishes and schools left and right and is likely to face countless lawsuits. The anti Catholic vitriol that would be stirred up there would be enormous.

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Monday, March 24, AD 2014 3:13am

[…] McClarey JD, TACatholic Pope: Read Gospel on Bus when Not Watching Your Pockets – G. Galeazzi PopeWatch: Congress – Don. R. McClarey JD, The American Catholic Before Conclave, Crd. Bergoglio Stressed Focus […]

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