If this is the case, where is the "support the constitution" crowd on this issue.
Like the ACLU? <snort>
If the Pope does visit, it will be unprecedented. No Pope or religious leader who also serves as a head of state has ever formally and officially addressed Congress.
I don't have a a problem with the Pope visiting the people of Congress, or the people of any other government branch. A significant percentage of the citizens within government are themselves religious, and it is unreasonable to have them leave their beliefs, or their expressions of those beliefs, at the door. I'm not one of those who thinks any and all evidence of religion needs to be removed from any and all aspects of government. We have a House Chaplain that is, like the Pope, a Jesuit. If members of Congress want to attend church service inside the Capitol, I don't care. I don't even know if they have church services at the Capitol anymore, but they used to all the time. That's an activity for individuals, not an activity for the Congressional body at large. It's not a problem any more than saying a prayer in school is a problem.
But I think it's a serious problem when the Pope is invited as the head of state of the Holy See, because he's being invited as a religious leader. In extending the invitation to the Pope back in March, Boehner said the Pope’s address “as a visiting head of state before a joint meeting of the House and Senate would honor our nation in
keeping with the best traditions of our democratic institutions. It would also offer an excellent opportunity for
the American people as well as the nations of the world to hear his message in full."
"Pope Francis has inspired millions of Americans
with his pastoral manner and servant leadership to reflect on matters of human dignity, freedom and social justice. These principles are among the fundamentals of the American idea,” Boehner went on to say, “and though our nation sometimes fails to live up to these principles, at our best, we give them new life as we seek the common good."
OMG. We're seeking the common good, among other things, and we need the Pope to help steer us, we need to hear his message. O..M..G.
Combine that with inviting him here explicitly as the Holy See as a pastoral servant of God to deliver His message, and the fact that 30 percent of the Congress, including Boehner, is Catholic, and the fact that in the Catholic church the Pope has what is called
Papal infallibility, and it's a significant problem. Papal infallibility is the dogma of the Catholic Church that states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope is preserved from the possibility of error. He cannot be wrong. Not even possible. It states,
"When, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church."
That's some kind of serious influence over all the Christians of the Congressional legislative body, not to mention a veritable religious experience for those among them who are Catholic. When the Holy See tells you to jump, you don't even waste time to ask how high, you just jump.
Here's a little communion cracker for thought...
"Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so." -
Robert A. Heinlein
Yeah, sure, the politics of it will be funny to watch, what with the Holy See embracing science literacy like evolution and climate change, and his position on helping the poor and on income inequality and his position as a hard-core socialist. I'm sure there are plenty of Republicans in Congress who are not at all excited at the prospect of the leader of the world’s 1.5 billion Catholic Christians officially and infallibly dressing them down in the name of God before a joint meeting of Congress and a worldwide television audience. Liberals will just crap themselves if he brings up abortion or same-sex marriage.
And to wash that communion cracker down...
"I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish, where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source, where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials." -
John F Kennedy, September 12 1960
