Pope reshapes Catholic politics in speech to Congress

House Speaker John Boehner expects the pontiff to rise above USA political bickering and provide bipartisan inspiration.

“On this continent, too, 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”, he said of migrants from Central and South America, indicating they needed to be treated as people seeking refuge rather than as exploiting the United States’ porous borders.

He said America shouldn’t “imperil the companies within our country” by mandating environmental regulations that would “imperil jobs … actually the middle class, and actually the lower classes are going to be the people with no money”. At the risk of oversimplifying, we might say that we live in a culture which pressures young people not to start a family, because they lack possibilities for the future. “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 subsidiarity, in a constant effort to do our best”.

“I can not hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without”, said the Pope.

As Pope Francis addressed Congress Thursday, a cardboard cutout of the pontiff greeted those who entered the office at All Saints Catholic Academy in Naperville.

It came a day after Francis waded into a fight over the Obama administration’s proposed rules to cut emissions from power plants, which will be staunchly opposed by Republicans.

That, he said, was his hope.

Some 61 percent of USA adults polled this month said they supported the pontiff’s call to climate, which was the subject of a July encyclical which was the first major writing of any pope focused on the environment.

Ted Cruz of Texas, called Pope Francis’ remarks “powerful” and said he “encouraged all of us to appeal to our better angels”.

Texas Republican Rep. Pete Sessions said he didn’t feel like Pope trod on political turf, telling CNN, “He respectfully approached us”.

Amid criticism that he is overly critical of global capitalism and dismisses its place in lifting millions of people out of poverty, Francis acknowledged that “business is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving the world”. He will be the first pope to do so. But, I suspect the images of him with the homeless at Catholic Charities will reverberate, and every pastor in the land should copy and distribute his remarks at St. Patrick’s in their parish bulletins. This volume (the title is taken from a short story of the same name by O’Connor) is an ambitious undertaking and one that could easily have become ponderous, but Elie’s presentation of the material is engaging and thoughtful, inspiring reflection and further study. “Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society?” he asked.

In the face of what he described as a “shameful and culpable silence”, he said there was a “duty” to end the arms trade.

While the Catholic church teaches that life begins at conception and therefore abortion is murder, Pope Francis mentioned the topic only once, in conjunction with his opposition to the death penalty.

He was welcomed enthusiastically to a House chamber packed with Supreme Court justices, Cabinet officials, and lawmakers of both parties, uniting the bickering factions before he even opened his mouth as all stood to cheer his arrival. “Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family”. “He’s done so consistently on the value of life, on the sanctity of life, on the importance of marriage and on the family”.

For longtime congressional watchers, the speech had a remarkable effect on lawmakers in the chamber, as Democrats, now outnumbered in both houses, repeatedly led Republicans in standing ovations when the pope enlisted moral arguments to support liberal positions.

This was most apparent when Pope Francis quoted from the Bible, urging the lawmakers to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you“.

The Argentine-born pope’s speech was in English, a language he had to practice recently and one he does not feel comfortable speaking.