This month, His Holiness Pope Francis makes another visit to the New World, only this time he will visit the most prominent country on the planet, the United States of America.
There have been other Vicars of Christ who have visited America but what makes this one all the more special is that His Holiness will be the first to address the country live from congress.
A congressional address is very rare. The last non-US president to address the nation, that I remember, was of the then French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Usually only reserved for the President of the United States and very few head’s of state, the fact that the Bishop of Rome in the Seat of Peter is addressing the American people is no small thing.
What is interesting, however, is what people are anticipating over what’s going to happen over the reality of what is likely to happen.
There Will Be No Major Announcement
It’s a hard idea for non-Catholics to grasp but, the Pope won’t be changing any Catholic doctrine. Nor can he. Although the media likes to portray that this Pope is this way on an issue while another Pope might be that way on the same issue, all that is a bit misleading. Yes, of course these men in charge of the Holy See are as different as night and day and they carry themselves differently, yet they all carry the same message. In fact, when a Pope is elected to his post, he is sworn to continue, not change, what those who walked with Christ left for us. There is no change, per se, but more so clarifications.
So don’t expect a change in the Church’s views on things like marriage and abortion. Unless men start giving birth to children and God makes an announcement that, “Thou shall not kill? I was kidding!” everything should stay the same as it has been since the beginning of time, no matter what our warped society tries to say and justify.
He’s a Hippy
I don’t understand why my liberal friends aren’t more excited that this Pope is coming to America. My friends who are lighting their marijuana cigarettes with bras would maybe like to take a time out from watching MSNBC and peak their collective craft beer drinking heads and pay attention to something that isn’t on their phones. This Pope is one of you. Again, the Pope cannot change Church doctrine but can emphasize what he feels is important in our times. So when the Pope does come, do not be surprised when he talks about the environment. My only wish is that he would adopt a shelter dog and announce that he’s vegan. Just so my liberal friend’s heads could explode.
Veiled Anti-Catholicism
Now this is a big one and one that you need to pay attention to. Anti-Catholics are here and they’ve never left. This country was built on slavery, tobacco, and hating Catholics. In fact, some of the first laws of the land were to ban Catholic settlers.
In the anglophone world (fancy talk for English speaking world) one forgets how the Western European Heresy dominated the culture. To this day, you’ll have so called Christians who are not Catholic, rail against the very Church Christ created. And although most people don’t know it, those thoughts and beliefs are still a foothold in today’s many English speaking Christians who have strayed from the Church.
Catholics get called nasty things like “Mary worshipers,” “saint worshipers,” “idol worshipers,” or some other slanderous fallacy.
I have a lot of friends who are not Christian, many of them Jewish or Agnostic, but they all have one thing in common. Although they may not believe nearly all of them are very respectful and understanding of the Faith. What is worrisome, however, is when these same people hear from so called “Christians” who will then spew hate towards the Church and all those that follow Him.
We live in extraordinary times. Gone are the anti-Catholic laws that are still alive in Britain to this day. All the Supreme Court justices identify themselves as either Catholic or Jewish, first time in history that not one of them is a believer of the Western European Heresy. Our Vice President is Catholic and at least two of the presidential candidates are Catholic as well, with Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush being the most prominent. The current governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey is also Catholic and is one of the dignitaries that will go and meet the Pope. When these and other leaders in our nation audience with the Pope, notice the visceral reaction from non-Catholic Christians.
The Westboro Baptist Church’s plan of picketing the Pope will be a clear indication of what the sentiment is, albeit glorified.
Love, Love, Love
So what will we be hearing from the Pope?
A whole lotta talk about love.
Again, people seem to forget that, at the end of the day, this man is a holy man. It’s hard for our proud minds to get over the fact that a man would use the world’s stage and not promote anything more than love, but that’s what he’s going to do.
He’s not going to tell you how to vote.
He’s not going to tell you how right or wrong you are on a political position.
All he’s going to tell us is, to pray for him. That he’s praying for us. And for everyone to love one another.
And isn’t that all that really needs to be said and done?
Tony Hernandez 