gracchusdixit

Pope Francis the First, the spiritual leader of the world’s more than one billion Roman Catholics, just took the unprecedented step of issuing an encyclical, which he called, after the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, “Laudato Si,” or ”Praised Be”.  In this letter of guidance to the faithful, he proclaimed climate change to be a fundamental threat to all living creatures and to “our common home,” the earth itself.

The Pope went further.  He dared to say what every thinking person knows down deep but few have been brave enough to put into words:  the root of the problem is a “sinful” economic system that encourages so much wasteful consumption by the wealthy few that the earth on which we all depend may soon be poisoned and sucked dry.  Urging us to recognize not only the limits of the natural world but the desperate needs of the poor, Pope Francis quoted Leviticus: “And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner.”

It scarcely needs saying that the Pope’s words did not sit well with the defenders of  the global economic order or with Republican pundits and politicians in the United States.  That professional gas-bag, Rush Limbaugh, did his usual huffing and puffing, accusing the Pope, as he has done several times in the past, of being a Marxist.  That unrepentant idiot, Senator Jim Inofe of Oklahoma, asserted, once again, that no scientific evidence exists to support the “theory” of climate change.  And that preposterous demagogue, Ted Cruz, gave us this more than usually preposterous comment:

He clearly doesn’t understand the true meaning of Christianity.  I’m not sure what kind of socialist upbringing he’s had, but true Christian principles are found in taking from the poor—not giving to them.  How will the poor ever better themselves if we don’t make them work for it, at a very low paying wage?  We can’t continue to let Obamacare corrupt the Pope, which it clearly has.

Whatever else you may think of Ted Cruz, you have to give credit where credit is due.  Never has so much utter nonsense been squeezed into a single paragraph of English prose.

Comments such as these are in no way surprising, since they come from the usual ranters and ravers, who can be relied upon to deny any moral, historical, or factual truth that conflicts with their prejudices and preconceptions.  It is easy for these buffoons to denounce the Pope, because they are under no spiritual obligation to pay attention.  Inofe and Cruz are evangelical Protestants, and  Limbaugh’s only religion is the almighty dollar.

However, things are more complicated for Republicans who also happen to be Catholics, for people like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Rick Santorum.  In reacting to the words of Pope Francis, all three have twisted themselves into such intellectual knots that it would be tempting to laugh if the subject were not so urgent and serious.

Of the three, Marco Rubio was the wiliest:

I have no problem with what the Pope did.  He is a moral authority and as a moral authority is reminding us of our obligation to be good caretakers of the planet.  I’m a political leader and my job as a policymaker is to act in the common good.  And I do believe it’s in the common good to protect our environment.  But I also believe it’s in the common good to protect our economy.

That sounds reasonable enough until you consider the problem that Rubio chooses to ignore:  you can’t have your cake and eat it too; you can’t protect the environment if you continue to perpetuate the economic system that is destroying the environment; sooner or later, you have to make a choice.

Jeb Bush was characteristically clumsier and even less logical:

I think religion ought to be about making us better as people, less about things that end up getting into the political realm…I don’t get my economic policy from my Bishops or my Cardinals or my Pope.

To state the obvious: personal and political behavior cannot be separated; you cannot be a “better person” in private all the while you pursue public policies that make life worse for society at large.  Since the policies Mr. Bush espouses have made life worse for millions of ordinary people here and elsewhere, perhaps he could learn a thing or two from his Bishops, his Cardinals, and his Pope.

Rick Santorum’s reaction was, as you might expect, just plain stupid:

We are probably better off leaving science to the scientists, and focusing on what we are really good at, which is theology and morality.

It appears to have escaped Santorum’s notice that the “theology and morality” of his church, the Roman Catholic Church, have for centuries concerned themselves with economic and social justice, with disparities of wealth and the plight of the poor, with the mutual obligations all human beings have to one another.  For the most sanctimonious candidate in the Republican field to ignore this long and venerable tradition is worse than stupid; it is absurd.

In the end, it has to be asked: what kind of Christians do these people imagine themselves to be when they ignore the Gospels and the teachings of their own church?   If they will not heed the Vicar of Christ, exactly what kind of Catholics are they?