By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Pope Francis is celebrating mass at the basilica adjacent to my alma mater this afternoon, Save Jerseyans, but this morning he stopped by the White House and while he made a brief, non-specific reference to the importance of religious liberty, the Roman Catholic Church’s Supreme Pontiff reserved his most direct political commentary for climate change.
The White House pounced:
Watch @Pontifex say why it's so important for everyone to come together to #ActOnClimate. #PopeInDC http://t.co/ouZ0PDWQKt
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 23, 2015
And who can blame them?? The Vicar of Christ blessing one of your primary public policy objectives is a pretty sweet get.
So you’ll need to forgive me for being a wet blanket, Save Jerseyans, but the lack of leadership right now in the ‘free world’ is deeply upsetting. Someone needs to speak out!
For example, the Pope could’ve used today’s White House remarks to rally the West against ISIS. Instead, what we got was the platitudinous rant on climate change tweeted above ^^. Granted, more Christians will die at the hands of radical Islam (or Planned Parenthood!) in my lifetime than temperature fluctuations real or imagined. Calling out either, my name, could’ve engendered a constructive reexamination of both issues. But we’re dealing with ideologues here, and while Francis might be a better human being than Barack Obama, he’s only marginally better at analyzing the facts and properly ordering his priorities.
St. John Paul II never shirked from tackling the tough discussions when he confronted his generation’s defining challenge embodied by the threat of communism. Pope Francis, on the other hand, plays it a little too safe. Just compare his sheepish trip to Cuba, where he declined to meet with dissidents, to John Paul’s famous open-air mass in Poland. Personality plays a part in the difference between these men. I also think the disconnect is partly attributable to JP2’s experiences in Poland during World War II and the Cold War which gave him a firsthand look at the true nature of the enemy.
For Francis, living in Argentina and spending much of his time on the streets, while admirable, may have been a tad too isolating for a future head of state.
The problem remains the same regardless of the causation question: what is the flock supposed to do when the shepherd refuses to take on the wolves?
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Some people claim that Francis is the Worst Pope Ever. Nonsense…anyone who knows anything about Church history understands that the worst pope ever was John XXII, followed closely by Alexander VI.
No, Pope Francis is not the worst pope ever. He IS the stupidest, though.