US solons united by Pope’s compassion, divided by his views
WASHINGTON—For about an hour on Thursday, the deeply divided lawmakers of the US Congress closed ranks behind Pope Francis and applauded his emotional speech that focused on hot-button issues like immigration and abortion.
But once the papal speech was over, the lawmakers retreated to their respective partisan corners, and offered up different interpretations of the Pontiff’s message. Beyond being moved by Francis’ compassion and “sense of humanity,” there was some public grumbling in the Republican ranks.
Rep. Bill Flores, chair of the conservative grouping Republican Study Committee, balked at the Pope’s call for better treatment of immigrants.
“He said do unto others the way others would do to you,” Flores said. “I don’t think other countries would like it if we crashed their borders and invaded their countries.”
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, a 2016 White House hopeful, took a swipe at Democrats when it came to the papal defense of Catholic teachings on family and abortion. “It was striking and heartbreaking to see so many congressional Democrats sitting, stone-faced, arms crossed, when the Pope urged us all to defend human life,” Cruz said.
The Pope’s views on climate change and public praise for US President Barack Obama’s initiatives to reduce air pollution met with criticism from Republicans as well. “We can shut down carbon, go back to the Stone Age, all live in poverty, and the world is far worse,” said Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
Karen Bass, a Democratic representative from California, however, noted that the message behind the issues Francis raised—immigration, poverty and the environment—was that “it’s our responsibility.”
Through the Pope’s speech, both political parties were seemingly engaged in selective listening, picking out only what they wanted to hear from his remarks.
The Pope’s admonitions —though in more muted terms—on same-sex marriage and abortion as being threats to the “fundamental relationships” within the family, was particularly welcomed by Republicans although his well-received speech seemed to have little sway on policy on Capitol Hill, where a partisan stalemate over federal funding continued just hours after the papal remarks.
With a 52 to 47 vote, the Senate fell eight votes short of the 60 required to advance a spending measure to keep the government open after next Wednesday, because of Democratic opposition to cutting money for Planned Parenthood.
Ordinary folk however took his words to heart. “From immigration to the war to refugees,” noted Marisa Besseliever, an accountant from Virginia. “He may not have pleased everyone in Congress, but it made me think about how I can be a better person,” she added.
In the Philippines, an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) meanwhile described as “stirring and compassionate” the Pope’s appeal to heal “the open wounds of a planet torn by hatred, greed, poverty and pollution.”
Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the CBCP-Permanent Committee on Public Affairs, said the Pope expressed in a very practical way a clear moral compass that should guide America, and for that matter, the rest of the world, on how to put an end to the most pressing problems afflicting the world.
Secillano said that as the Pope spoke on the plight of illegal migrants, so too must Filipinos learn to respect the rights of indigenous peoples instead of turning them “into refugees in their own lands.”
For Fr. Anton Pascual, executive director of Caritas Manila, Pope Francis’ speech reminded politicians of their responsibility toward the common good, and “challenged lawmakers that life is sacred and must be preserved and nurtured.”