That's the question I pose, and try to answer, in this essay at PoliticsDaily:
But what is clear, whether one reads every word or just excerpts, is that the pope is a liberal, at least in American political terms. He says this is not a document proposing "technical solutions," and stresses the greed and sin at the heart of the current economic crisis. Yet he rigorously and consistently applies the Golden Rule to economics and finance, calling for greater regulation of the markets and -- get this -- "a true world political authority" that can put "real teeth" into international governance.Not even the purportedly "socialist" Barack Obama, who will meet with Benedict on Friday for the first time at the Vatican, would imagine going that far.
Right? Or left?
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Neither.
People, people, people.
Is it possible that David is using this meme to help us all get past our obsession with American Politics and perhaps realize there is both a wider world and that its full of people?
He is the Pope of the Universal Catholic Church.
He cannot be reduced to specific political boundaries of one country.
To do so is an unfortunate analysis.
Was Christ a liberal because of Matthew 25?
The whole basics of the Church is Liberal.....or is it? Good question. The right to life for unborn babies is Conservative for certain, as for anything else very Liberal. That's why a separation of church and state in America helped to make this country great. Historically the church has kept her people ignorant and stable and locked in that ignorance. To me that is very Liberal.
Insisting on the labels used in twenty-first century American politics to the leader of the ancient, universal Church reveals much more about the inadequacies of the former than the policy patterns of the latter.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.