What kind of world is it when the Pope seems as though they would make a better president than the actual current president of the United States? Although obviously, the Pope remains committed to a certain set of conservative viewpoints, in a document issued on Monday, the current leader of the Catholic Church Pope Francis laid out his vision for the world and explicitly put caring for migrants at a level of importance equal to that of opposing abortion.
That puts the Pope at odds with our current president, Donald Trump, who in recent days and weeks has been increasingly vocal about his own views on migrants. He has claimed, for instance, that women in migrant groups are being raped at levels never seen before, painting individuals trying to make their way to the United States as potentially harboring dangerous criminals, but there’s no evidence for his claim.
The Pope, who has clashed with the president on a number of issues in the past, isn’t impressed with those who think like the president.
In an “apostolic exhortation” on the subject of holiness, Pope Francis stated as follows:
‘The other harmful ideological error is found in those who find suspect the social engagement of others, seeing it as superficial, worldly, secular, materialist, communist or populist. Our defense of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned.’
It really shouldn’t be that hard to find political leaders willing to pick and choose among viewpoints without regard to partisan standards, and yet here we are. Although Pope Francis remains opposed to a woman’s right to an abortion, he has made it clear that he supports lifting up the underprivileged without regard to whether or not such a thing is ideologically convenient. The same can hardly be said for the vast majority of Republican leaders here in the United States who have gone along with the president while he’s touted incendiary views about migrants.
The president has, of course, gone so far as to propose banning the adherents of an entire religion from entering the United States, although since taking office, he walked back that proposal slightly.
The Pope does not support those who have chosen to ignore human rights issues in supporting Donald Trump because he aligns with them on other issues.
As he put it:
‘We often hear it said that, with respect to relativism and the flaws of our present world, the situation of migrants, for example, is a lesser issue… That a politician looking for votes might say such a thing is understandable, but not a Christian.’
Other clashes between the president and Pope Francis in the past include the issue of climate change. Last year, in that light, the Pope handed off a copy of his encyclical on the seriousness of climate change to Trump.
It’s worth noting that it’s quite a striking state of affairs when the leader of the Catholic Church making a simple pronouncement about the importance of human rights puts him at odds with the sitting president of the United States.
Featured Image via Franco Origlia/ Getty Images
