Take Aways from Pope Francis Address to the US Congress

Pope Francis has just concluded his first visit to the United States.  I am sure that the analysis will go on for weeks as American politicians and pundits try to grapple with, in my opinion, the admonitions of this Pope.

You can read thePope's speech HERE and read The 10 Most Important Lines From Pope Francis' Historic Speech to Congress which forms the template for this article.

On climate change: "…to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity. I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the United States—and this Congress—have an important role to play. …"

From Alternet:  In response to a question during an interview,

"[Robert F Jr] Kennedy replied, “The public and press and corporate America begin recognizing that this is a moral imperative, that we can no longer lie to each other and lie to the public about global warming, that that’s a sin. A sin is an injury to a relationship, an injury to another person, and we are injuring whole generations of humanity as well as the rest of God’s creation. We need to start looking at it that way rather than looking at it as a political battle, or Republicans vs. Democrats, we have to understand that this is a moral issue.”

Kennedy is a Catholic so he speaks in somewhat religious terms but he is absolutely right in my opinion.  Climate change IS a moral issue, and a moral issue is not necessarily a religious issue. Likewise, a moral issue is not a political issue, but in the US, and elsewhere, politicians, our elected representatives, must embrace climate change and find workable comprehensive strategies to save the planet, future generations, animals etc.  Rape is morally wrong, yet that is what we are doing to the planet.

Also read The Nation for further commentary.

On abolishing the death penalty: "…every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. …a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation."

From The Nation "… Harry Blackmun, wrote in 1994 that he would no longer “tinker with the machinery of death.” And in 2008, John Paul Stevens wrote that his review of hundreds of cases had persuaded him that the penalty is both profoundly unworkable and unconstitutional.

What has Breyer learned to put him in such company? Plenty. In his dissent, he argued that the death penalty is seriously unreliable and arbitrary in application; he believes the long delays undermine its penological purpose; and he is convinced that we have executed the innocent."

I do not agree with capital punishment, which in my opinion is state sponsored murder.  Look at the costs outlined in The Nation article: $3 million average cost to execute a death row prisoner versus $1.1 million to keep a prisoner incarcerated for life.  Too many prosecutors amp up their conviction rates for political and career gain.  And as Justice Breyer related "…we have executed the innocent."   Once a person is executed, there is no going back, guilty or innocent.

On abortion: "The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development." (This was his only direct reference to abortion in the speech.)

As Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times notes:

"Francis talks of the “responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage” but then instead of continuing on to talk about the need to end abortion, he pivots to the death penalty."

When I think about the intersection of various issues, how can a society endorse the death penalty but take a very staunch conservative stance on banning abortion, even in the direst of circumstances like rape, incest or the imperiled life of the mother?  To take the intersection further, how can a society then ignore children living in dire poverty where there is not enough food and social assistance (SNAP benefits) are cut back?  I could link other things in like a living wage, but I think you get my point.

On same-sex marriage: The closest he came to addressing same-sex marriage was in a passage about the importance of family. "I cannot hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, …"

What is FAMILY anyway?  Wikipedia defines family as follows:

"In the context of human society, a family (from Latin: familia) is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity (by recognized birth), affinity (by marriage), or co-residence and/or shared consumption (see Nurture kinship). "

Family is about commitment, love and nurture.  There is no reference to the absolute imperative of "one man and one women" as conservatives espouse.  The saying that "it takes a village to raise a child" is so true. But in the cloistered hall of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Francis did say more. Read more at Huffington Post.

On Iran and Cuba: "…This has required, and requires, courage and daring, which is not the same as irresponsibility. A good political leader is one who, with the interests of all in mind, seizes the moment in a spirit of openness and pragmatism. A good political leader always opts to initiate processes rather than possessing spaces."

From The Nation

 Both sides, however, acknowledge that normal diplomatic relations have created a new framework for engagement—and a bilateral mechanism to conduct a dialogue about the issues that will need to be resolved before relations are fully normalized. … 

From Alternet — The last American that the Pope named, the theologian Thomas Merton, was cited as a direct call on Congress stop partisan bickering and start showing constructive results. He called Merton “a man of dialogue and promoter of peace for people and religions” and then reminded Congress what statesmanship consisted of.

With regard to Cuba, Republicans are caught in the McCarthy era looking for communist boogiemen behind every door.  But I also think that Republicans don't like having a defiant yet small nation just 90 miles off its shore. 

As to Iran, in the 20th century, it was a large producer of oil and natural gas.  There was heavy foreign investment in the oil and gas industry.  But then in 1951, the new prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, nationalised all oil and gas works including US operations.  In 1953, the US and Britain engineered a coup d'état taking back their oil and gas interests.  But the nationist Islamic revolution of 1979 put Iran back in control.  Is it any wonder then that such emnity should exist?  Republicans however, hawks that they are, will never give up that which they think was theirs, but never was theirs.  And Iran is not going to give up their sovreignty.

On the refugee crisis: "Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War. … thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities. Is this not what we want for our own children? …"

Much like today's refugees, many of our ancestors from the 17th and 18th centuries were refugees fleeing religious persecution in Europe.  Others were political refugees.  Why do we balk at providing the same opportunities that we received?

On immigration: "We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners. … Building a nation calls us to recognize that we must constantly relate to others, rejecting a mindset of hostility in order to adopt one of reciprocal solidarity, in a constant effort to do our best. …"

From Damien Cave at the New York Times:

"Francis is clearly reminding his audience that the United States is part of a larger whole — one America in the Americas, where immigration is a deeply rooted part of history. He offers guidance on how to respond to the world's latest migrant crisis, urging lawmakers to treat migrants “with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated."

In his article in The Nation, George Zornick commented:

He continued: “We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”

Jeb Bush commented on immigration as seen in The Daily Kos 

We should not have a muticultural society … America has done immigration so much better than the other countries because it's a set of values that people share, that defines our national identity—not race or ethnicity or where you come from. And when you create pockets of isolation—and in some cases, the assimilation process has been retarded because they slowed down—it's wrong … So I think across the board, education, English—being able to speak English—a common language is important. We need to get back to that. We're creeping toward multiculturalism and that's the wrong approach.

The Pope would be apalled at this xenophobic attitudes towards immigrants.

Lucia, who is my ESL student, fled Sudan with her husband because of the civil war.  She fled to Uganda where she lived in poverty for about 8 years. During those 8 years, she gave birth to her oldest 2 children.  There were unspeakable crimes committed against her and her family.  They escaped Uganda and came to Canada.  Here she has been welcomed and supported by myself and other members of my church.  ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’

On poverty: "I would encourage you to keep in mind all those people around us who are trapped in a cycle of poverty. They too need to be given hope. The fight against poverty and hunger must be fought constantly and on many fronts, especially in its causes. …"

A petition at Daily Kos says (follow the link to sign):

Government programs that feed the hungry and heal the sick must struggle for funding, while billions of our tax dollars are still being sent to Big Oil in the form of tax subsidies and other special interest giveaways.

Now, we need to send Congress a message about the social spending we need and the corporate handouts we don’t.

Getting the Republican dominated Congress to stand by programmes such as SNAP, social security, Medicare/Medicaid, a living wage and more is like asking the sun to go away or the stars not to shine in the night sky. But all must continue to push and push hard for a more compassionate society.

On the arms trade: "Being at the service of dialogue and peace also means being truly determined to minimize and, in the long term, to end the many armed conflicts throughout our world. Here we have to ask ourselves: Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society? …"

There can only be one answer to this question: GREED!  Think of the NRA.  Why does it push the 2nd amendment right to bear arms?  Surely, with the numbers of deaths caused by guns in the US, it would back off. But it is ostensibly "owned and operated" by the weapons manufacturers who are in business to earn profits.  How do you change this without changing the mindset of a nation?

On religious fundamentalism: "We know that no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. … But there is another temptation which we must especially guard against: the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners."

All fundamentalism, whether Christian, Judaic, Islamic or any other religion or rite such as atheism, leads to the exclusion and marginalisation of many.  As the Pope says, fundalmentalism is "the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners."  I doubt few of us, no matter what religion would see ourselves in such black and white terms.  We also see this in the way that the right wing Christians in the US refer to the country as having been established as a Christian nation.  Republican presidential candidate said that he had no problem with a Muslim becoming POTUS providing he recanted Islam, became a Christian, and took the oath of office on a bible.  That is closeminded fundamentalism.