Francis’ message
The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics spoke to important, urgent issues.
In his warm, humble way, Pope Francis in a six-day trip ending today brought a message of hope and mercy to the United States that was such a breath of fresh air it seemed out of place in our politically riven, increasingly hardedged country.
He spoke of issues that once figured prominently in our public discussion, but have been subjugated in the rightward political tide that puts forth deregulation, free enterprise and unbridled capitalism as the solution to most problems.
The spiritual leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, including 68 million in the United States, strongly called for international action against global warming, empathy and assistance for the poor, an end to the arms trade and the death penalty, as well as acceptance of undocumented immigrants who leave their homelands in search of a better life. He didn’t dictate how these issues should be addressed, just that responsible leaders can’t ignore them.
The Argentine pontiff, who visited Cuba before coming to the U.S., praised capitalism but at the same time warned against its excesses and the inequality to which they can lead.
While we did not agree with everything he said, much of it we did, particularly his common-sense plea to fight climate change and his concern for the poor and the immigrants. .
Evoking the Golden Rule before Congress, this son of immigrants said of those among us without documents: “Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves.”
In contrast, billionaire Donald Trump, leader in all polls for the Republican presidential nomination, wants to ship the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. back to the home countries they fled to escape poverty and violence, and to construct a 2,000-mile border wall to keep them out. Several of his rivals for the nomination agree with him.
While nationally there are varying levels of support for the stances the pope embraces, there isn’t enough support in the halls of Congress or the Texas Capitol, both controlled by Republicans, to address them seriously.
A fed-up House Speaker John Boehner, who is a Catholic, surprised Washington Friday by announcing his resignation, a day after he openly wept while listening to Pope Francis speak to a joint session of Congress. Boehner’s inability to bring his party’s hard-right base to heel no doubt contributed to his decision. His action underlined the unfortunate truth that the pope’s words are likely to have little effect on U.S. policy, except for whatever executive orders President Obama can issue.
Our country is the worse for it, but that’s where we are today. At a time when we should be leading the world into a new era of progress, we are instead fighting battles over antiquated policies that are back in vogue and taking our collective eye off the ball on issues of enormous importance, including global warming.
We are pleased that Francis came to the United States. If he returns, we would urge him to visit Texas to see how the issues that concern him are faring in the reddest of red states. Landing in the Lone Star State, he would find us leading the nation in greenhouse gas emissions. He would find that, despite all the wealth that oil and gas have bestowed on our state, we have a million people who have no health insurance and would qualify for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, had our leaders not turned it down.
As for undocumented immigrants, despite our long border and our rich shared history with Mexico, our leaders show them little of the sympathy for which Pope Francis pleaded. Instead of working to reform an unwieldy, unworkable immigration system, our elected officials prefer to demonize the undocumented among us as a strategy for gaining votes.
We would encourage our leaders in Austin and Washington to open their minds to the possibility that the broader world is different from the narrow one they live in and to consider that the pope, who has a pretty good adviser, could be right.
And we would urge Pope Francis to keep us in his prayers. We’re going to need them.