I consider myself a conservative but I’ve grown sick with how the Right in this country has attacked the Pope. * They listen to what the Pope says like they listen to a politician when they should be listening to the Pope as one listens to a pastor. I’ve watched with a lot of sadness as many on the Right seem to put American political ideologies before their faith. I expected this from Leftist politicians in America, but not so much from the Right who have traditionally been more devout.
I admit that the way in which I’ve heard some of the Pope’s comments has disturbed me and made me question my own political beliefs and motivations, but then again, is not the Gospel disturbing for those of us who are not fully living it out? We feel disturbed in part because we feel called to follow the Gospel more fully, but then reflect on the way we actually live and act and see a saddening disparity between what we do and what we ought to do.
What I love about Pope Francis’s message is that I feel like he has renewed my own sense of empathy for the most vulnerable among us. I think many on the American Right (where I place myself politically) would do well to develop their own sense of empathy when listening to what the Pope has to say.*
Eh, what exactly do you mean when you say, “I think many on the American Right (where I place myself politically) would do well to develop their own sense of empathy when listening to what the Pope has to say”? Immigration? Healthcare? Global warming? Welfare state?
What I’ve observed of The Right, those that hold semi-anti-Catholic views and that Pope Bash, is that many who treat the Pope like an outright politician tend to fall into two camps: the first, people are who cultural Catholics aka name only and second, people who have fallen away and no longer practice. And there’s people like me who disagree with him who are neither name only nor fallen away.
I do see where The Right is coming from, but what they fail to don’t understand is that the Pope is not a political figure like a politician is.
In saying that his near silence on the legalization of same-sex “marriage” in once staunch Catholic Ireland and in America is telling, among other things.
The Pope hasn’t challenged my beliefs since I already came from a more liberal political bent, into a more socially and fiscally conservative worldview.
