Pope Francis is Not From the French Revolution

The terms “left” and “right” when it comes to political ideologies originated during the French Revolution (Thanks Michael Gormley of Lay Evangelist and Catching Foxes for the history lesson).  The members of the National Assembly would divide the room with those supporting the King on the right and those supporting the revolution on the left. Pope Francis is on neither side.

With the Pope’s visit to the Unites States, Conservatives and Liberals are losing their minds! The Pope is a liberal! The Pope is a Conservative! I am closer and closer to totally giving up talk radio.

I’ve really come to see that Conservative talking heads and Liberal talking heads are really the same exact thing, just on opposite sides of the aisle. They both say they are searching for the truth but as long as it’s their truth. And, for some of them, the Pope is not speaking their truth.That makes him the enemy.

I think the big fiasco going on in my mind is the debate over whether the Pope has come to the U.S. to make political statements. On a radio show I was listening to the person on the scene at the White House was asking people what they thought the Pope’s intentions were with all his statements about religion, the family, marriage, abortion, immigration,the death penalty, the environment, etc. She said that she was shocked because everyone she spoke to thought he was making spiritual comments as his position as spiritual guide.She, as do many talking heads, think he is coming with a political agenda.But, these topics are all matters of faith. They are how we interact with each other as well as the rest of creation.

Frankly, I’m shocked how so many people, even people who claim to be people of faith, can separate one aspect of our society from their faith and not others. Well, I guess I shouldn’t be shocked, we’re always trying to make our faith, Jesus, our Church the faith, Jesus, and Church that WE want and not live in reality of what they are.

Our faith should dictate everything in our lives. That includes anything that may be considered political. My favorite topic that the Conservatives lose their minds over is the environment. I don’t think you have to agree with the Pope on ideas on HOW to protect the environment, but I would think that most people believe we should protect it. I mean, God only commands us to do so: "The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it" - Genesis 2:15. On the same radio show I mentioned above, the host mentioned that the environment isn’t even in the top 50 of things she’s worried about. What? You complain about the deficit and Obama Care and how we are leaving a huge debt for our children, but what about actually leaving them a planet? How about leaving some trees for them to produce oxygen? How about cleaning up our manufacturing practices to keep that air clean? While we’re at it, how about some clean water too? We won’t have anything if we don’t have a place to live and thrive. Take a look at countries that don’t have environmental regulations. A lot of them are third world countries. The conditions they live in are horrid.

But, this is America I guess. We are so pampered that we can find anything to complain about, including the Pope speaking Spanish, his first language, instead of English.

What the media doesn’t realize is that Pope Francis is doing exactly what he and the Church are commissioned on this Earth to do. Let’s see what the Church said in the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes – Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World:

2. Now that the Second Vatican Council has deeply studied the mystery of the Church, it resolutely addresses not only the sons of the Church and all who call upon the name of Christ, but the whole of humanity as well, and it longs to set forth the way it understands the presence and function of the Church in the world of today.    Therefore, the world which the Council has in mind is the whole human family seen in the context of everything which envelopes it;

4. At all times the Church carries the responsibility of reading the signs of the time and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel, if it is to carry out its task. 

11. The people of God believes that it is led by the Spirit of the Lord who fills the whole world. Moved by that faith it tries to discern in the events, the needs, and the longings which it shares with other men of our time, what may be genuine signs of the presence or of the purpose of God. For faith throws a new light on all things and makes known the full ideal which God has set for man, thus guiding the mind towards solutions that are fully human.

“We have to be careful not to pick one item in isolation," he said. “The Holy Father comes as a pastor and as a prophet, and as a prophet he comes with a certain moral voice." - Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz