"Is the Pope Catholic?"

 

“Is the Pope Catholic?”

It used to be the tag-line joke to whenever anyone said anything that was painfully obvious:  “is the Pope Catholic?”  Last month I asked this question in my brain again, but in a very non-rhetorical way.  It came on the heels of first Nancy Pelosi meeting with Pope Francis, and then President Joe Biden.  So, I thought maybe for the purpose of telling you a few things you might not already be aware of about, well, Things Catholic, that could shed a different light on these untenable meetings.

First let me say this:  being a Catholic is not the same thing as belonging to a club like:  Rotary (a very nice service organization), or the Ladies Auxiliary to the American Veterans (they are supportive of service members), or the Elks or the Moose or the like.  No, Catholicism is a philosophy of life that is deeply rooted in both the Jewish and Christian wisdom traditions.  A wise professor once told us, “Lex orandi, Lex credendi,” the law of prayer is the law of creed/belief.  That means that if you want to understand what a person believes, look at what their prayers are composed of.  (At this point I restrain myself from going three other directions about the content of prayers and other groups for the interest of the particular topic at hand…. A story for another day.)

If you want to understand someone who is truly Catholic, you look at the content of the Nicean Creed which they pray at Mass.  It says everything they believe about God, the Church, and the final things of life.  It really is quite a nice neat little package too, if I do say so myself.  If you want to understand how a Catholic should live, you would look at 2 sources:  the Ten Commandments (3 about relating to God, 7 about relating to your neighbor) and the Beatitudes (the attitudes you should have in daily life: emphasis on humility).  Theoretically, you should be able to look at any Catholic and see those things lived out.  Theoretically.

So, really, we can just take one item:  the abortion discussion, and disqualify a lot of people from the embrace of Catholicism on just that point … if they are aware that they are standing in direct opposition to the Church’s teaching which extends:  “Thou shalt not Kill” to the unborn.  The Didache, which is a document from the earliest years of Christianity also underscores the heinous nature of abortion.  And you have, for instance, a President who claims to be “A Catholic in good standing” who has shown himself to be the most pro-abortion president in the history of the USA in his endorsement of Planned Parenthood the Abortion Machine. 

Catholic people, indeed practicing Christians of all denominations that revere the Bible as the Word of God to us, also believe that obeying lawful authority creates peace and good order.  One could easily extrapolate that those who are creating chaos at the southern border by dissolving any orderly process by which we welcome people into American society, are going against the spirit of that Biblical mandate.  To dissolve law and order creates anarchy – and God is a God of order. 

I cannot just SAY I am a Catholic and expect you to take me seriously if what I SAY out of the other side of my mouth flies completely in the face of Catholic moral teaching and Biblical standards.  That makes me one of two things … or if we were analyzing the President of the United States … or anyone else …. You still really are left with only one of two things:  a truth, or a non-truth.  I deliberately didn’t say “Lie” because I believe that in the case of the current occupant of the Oval Office, he is not fully capable of lying (or purposefully telling the truth, either) at this point in his mental decline.  I do have a modicum of compassion for him.  It has to be a terrible experience to have moments of lucidity where you realize you just have no idea at all what you are saying… or who you are … that your clarity only reveals how unclear you’ve been for who knows how long.  That’s got to be very disorienting.

Look, it would be very easy for me to itemize people I personally think are Bad Examples of attempts at Catholicism (dare I say JFK?  I think about Marilyn Monroe and Jackie. About all that complication due to his infidelity).  It is incredible to be given the highest challenge in the known world:  to lead America and be the Major Player on the world stage for peace and Justice, only to screw up royally in your private life.  At the end of the day, you can sit at the banquet table with kings and dignitaries but if your own kids had no good example to look up to, then what is it all worth?

It would be easier -because it overlaps my field of study – to tell you about the great heroes of Catholicism, names that you would know, stories that would inspire you and lift you up (John Paul the Great, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Dorothy Day, Francis of Assisi, and the like).  These are the great humanitarians of our age.  But this is not about that.  It is just for the sake of contrast.  Joe Biden had an opportunity and he has bungled it…. Over and over again …. And it’s not that we should add more pressure to an already stress-filled job.  It’s that you can’t be falling apart at the seams and be allowed to lead when in fact you are making huge deal-breaker mistakes.    But then you have, let’s call it, The Papal Incident.

The first clip I watched showed him presenting a warrior’s coin to the Holy Father.  And then, painfully, through a translator, explaining what it is and gifting it to the Holy Father on behalf of his deceased son, Beau Biden.  Truly, this was a touching gesture from a father’s heart that still carries the grief of loss embedded in its depths.  But watching him explain to the Holy Father what it is, was downright painful.  The Holy Father had to play a pleasant, but poker-face, because he didn’t KNOW what is being put in his hand and for what reason.  It’s like that incident in school when I laughed when I thought a person was fake-crying while reading a poem.  When I realized his movement was sincere emotion, it was ME who was embarrassed.  So, Joe put the Pope in an awkward spot.  But we can live with that one.

It’s then the other meeting – allegedly just the two of them – that he comes forth from the room claiming that the Pope has called him a “Catholic in good standing, and to still receive holy communion.”  Itemization to follow of what is wrong with this:

•  Why were two major world leaders in the room alone with no translators?

• Did you think Joe went to confession?  If so, the purpose of confessing is to speak to someone who understands and can give you wise counsel.  El Sancta Padre no habla ingles.  It’s that simple.  So, if you want some truly wise advice, go to someone who can dialogue with you, not just nod their head, otherwise your attempt makes a mockery out of the spirit of repentance and renewal.
• Does Mr. Biden’s understanding of “Catholic in good standing” encompass everything I said earlier about the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the earliest moral teachings of Christianity found in the Bible and the Didache?  Me thinks it does not.  Because if it did, either he is oblivious of the impact of his decision making, voting, legislating and pontificating, OR he is a liar.
• Did the Pope really say that Mr. Biden is a “good Catholic”?  Or was the Pope a victim of a political maneuver on the chessboard of the world stage?
• If the Pope really said that …. Does the POPE know what Mr. Biden has been up to? 
• And if so, is the Pope lucid?  Or is he a collaborating foreign power that hails from a socialist country in South America, helping to turn the tide of American life into more chaos?  Is capitalism so intrinsically evil to his sensibilities, that he would see us fall apart altogether into national poverty, bloodshed, and social upheaval, rather than remain a democracy?  (*Important side note: I go to work.  A portion of my paycheck, without my consent, is extracted to pay for the needs of the poor and indigent who do not or perhaps cannot work.  Then when my portion hits the bank, I have to sort through not just bills, but appeals from charities all across this nation and other countries to decide who I can purposefully share my resources with.  I am not the only person who does this.  If we, as a nation, get jettisoned into the poor house, the gravy train stops abruptly. What good does THAT accomplish on the world stage?)
• Does the Pope think that a refusal to hold Catholic politicians accountable to their declared faith is an act of non-judgmentalism?  If so, let me clarify:  there is a difference between right and wrong.  Both parents and teachers understand that children and the unknowing need to be educated on that.  It is an act of hatred to refuse to teach someone something that will save them from self-harm or creating misery for others.  Refusal to weigh-in on the moral responsibility held by public officers is, in and of itself, a grave moral evil … perhaps moreso for you if you are, well, say, …. The Pope.

We can excuse people from teaching others and holding others responsible for erroneous behaviors and moral judgments only if that person is also ignorant in some way of what is really going on.  Namely, if the Pope doesn’t have the clear picture on American politics by now, then perhaps his turn on the world stage is …. Over. 

This leaves us with not just one question:  Is the President a Catholic in good standing?  But also: Is the Pope a Catholic in good standing?

There will no doubt be those I love who think I have stepped too far on this line of reasoning.  But I implore you to consider that if reasoning and moral values are no longer practiced by the laity, who will guide the leadership back to where it needs to be?  It is not the cart that goes home at the end of the night; the horse himself always knows the way back to the barn.

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