REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS: NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO POPE FRANCIS VISIT

….The “Progressive” Pope Francis

Some presidential candidates are having issues with the visit of Pope Francis

My wife and I were very privileged to see Pope John-Paul II up close when we visited Rome not long before he died in 2005.  Having visited the Vatican and toured the remains of ancient Rome, we learned so much about what affect the different Popes of the past have had on Catholic history.

Well, coming soon, we will be seeing what affect Pope Francis is going to have on the conservatives in the US Congress.  Pope Francis will be the first Pope to ever address the US Congress, and it is appearing that all the Republicans in Congress are wishing that something will happen that prevents the Pope from addressing the Congress.

No, I don’t mean that they want something bad to happen to the Pope.

But with all the revelations that have been occurring that show how progressive this latest Pope is, this isn’t exactly going over well with all of the congressional conservatives.

First, it all got a little crazy in Congress when the Pope made it clear that it was a moral duty to address climate change.  Now, it’s one thing to want to help those people that are affected by "natural" climate change.  But, the Republicans became almost un-Christian when the Pope said that, “It is our moral duty to save the earth from this ongoing man-made destruction.“  Yep, the Pope said “manmade destruction” not just normal and natural climate change.  According to recent polling, man-made climate change has now become the most contentious issue in a partisan America, even more so than abortion.

But then things started getting even worse.

The Pope has now said that “Unfettered capitalism is the “dung of the devil.”

In his speech while visiting Bolivia, the Pope sounded almost like a Socialist when he said that the poor have the “sacred rights to labor, lodging and land”. He again called for a halt to the destruction of the earth before it is too late, destruction that disproportionately affects the world’s poor. Needless to say, the conservatives did not care for the Pope’s description of what he basically referred to as “smelly and evil capitalism”.

But no, the Pope doesn’t stop here. 

For a man of the cloth, Pope Francis also has a true admiration for science. We seriously saw it when he said one can be a good Catholic and believe in evolution and the Big Bang Theory.  He also stated that neither are incompatible with the existence of a creator.

Speaking at the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences recently, the pope said, "When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so."

Devout Catholics such as presidential wannabee Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal and Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum, are probably having some serious issues with this revelation.

The latest statements though are really making the Republicans in Congress ask as to whether they should call in sick on the day the Pope visits the Congress.

First there’s when Pope Francis said women who have had abortions can be absolved of their “sin.”

The pope did not go quite so far as to suggest that abortion is not a mortal sin. But he recently announced a year of mercy starting this December, during which women who have had abortions can seek and be granted absolution. Repentance is however, a prerequisite. It's not a full-on feminist victory, but it is a tiny step.

That was a real issue with the anti-abortion wing like Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum and Scott Walker. And Jeb Bush found himself disagreeing with and even lecturing the leader of his faith that the issue isn't those sinful women, it’s the killing of the “unborn.”

The final nail in the issues against Pope Francis was when the Pope made it easier and cheaper to get marriages annulled.

Actually, the change to dealing with annulments was more of a small bureaucratic change than a big major upset.  But the change spoke volumes about forgiveness and the recognition that over the years, all the world’s families have changed.  The church’s change will make more people feel welcome in the Catholic church.  The Vatican has now unveiled new rules to make it easier, faster and less costly to obtain an annulment. Both of Francis’ predecessor’s Pope’s had gone in the opposite direction, consigning those that are miserable in marriage to eternal togetherness or to live in sin.

Yes, Pope Francis is really upsetting the apple-cart of the conservatives in the US Congress with his progressive ideas and changes.

But, on the whole across this great nation, most American conservatives have not made a lot of negative noise about this particular change.  That’s probably because many of them have been divorced and remarried, some more than once.

As to what kind of reception Pope Francis is going to receive in the US Congress, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t get the kind of standing ovations that this Pope will be receiving from the other venues he visits.

Copyright G.Ater  2015