New York Times (Editorial)
September 24, 2015
Pope
Francis could not have had a more divided and needy audience than
Congress to hear his creative, blunt demand to confront the problems of
the nation and the world
that Congress has made a political art of evading.
In
an address of memorable passion and nuance, Francis focused widely on
the divisive immigration issues at home and abroad, the economic divide
driving poverty, the threat
to the environment, the “brutal atrocities” and “simplistic
reductionism” of the world’s continuing conflicts, and the need, above
all, for “courageous actions and strategies” rather than “facile
proposals” from leaders responsible for solutions.
Any
listener expecting a safe exercise in euphemism amid the American
presidential debate had to be delighted as the pope took a highly
prescriptive path in reminding
American leaders they must never forget the nation’s own roots of
tolerance and equal justice. Cutting through the latest political talk
about building ever bigger walls to keep immigrants out, Francis spoke
to this nation of immigrants as a son of Latin American
immigrants.
Of
all his themes, Francis’ call for rational and just treatment of
refugees here and abroad rang with the greatest passion and truth. “We
must not be taken aback by their
numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and
listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their
situation,” he said, a rebuke to the ugly diatribes of some in the
presidential campaign.
Bursts
of applause and cheers underlined the separate points lawmakers
favored, but Congress remained rapt as he singled out a quartet of
Americans as the embodiment of
the nation’s history in advancing dreams of liberty, tolerance, social
justice and reaching out to the world: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther
King Jr., Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton. The latter two were a decidedly
pleasant surprise, reminders of Day’s poverty-focused
labors as co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, and of the
contemplative writings of Merton, the intellectual Trappist monk, whom
he called “a promoter of peace between peoples and religions” and “a
thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time.”
Throughout
the speech, the pope offered his listeners a needed reminder of their
potential and duty to make politics a creative calling in multiple
spheres, including
on poverty. In discussing Day, the pope praised her ceaseless struggle
against the cycle of poverty. “Part of this great effort is the creation
and distribution of wealth,” he declared to a roomful of politicians
busy courting big-dollar campaign donors. And
he repeated his call for leaders to protect “our common home” from “the
environmental deterioration caused by human activity” — an issue that
is anathema to some of the richest corporate donors.
On
the question of human life, Francis stressed the need to “protect and
defend human life at every stage of its development” — a point that
seemed to allude to abortion.
But in the very next sentence, he used this theme to speak at greater
length about need for the global abolition of the death penalty.
As
attuned to political subtext as well as any in the audience, he did not
speak explicitly about the same-sex marriage movement. But he did warn
that “fundamental relationships
are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and
the family.” He added, “I can only reiterate the importance and, above
all, the richness and the beauty of family life,” a point that same-sex
couples would certainly embrace.
Far
from preaching, Pope Francis was gentle but firm in enunciating the
nation’s ideals. For Americans frustrated by congressional gridlock and a
looming government shutdown,
there seemed an undertone of wistfulness and wisdom to Francis’ simple
reminder to his highly partisan audience: “A good political leader is
one who, with the interest of all in mind, seizes the moment in a spirit
of openness and pragmatism.”
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