Papal Visit – Day 1

          With Pope Francis gracing the shores of the United States for the first time, I thought I’d provide a little commentary on whatever may strike me as interesting during his visit. Since the Pope just arrived, and he had no official events or public comments, today was a slow news day. So I’d like to kick off this series by responding to a question I saw posted on the internet:

Question: When politicians state that the Pope should stay out of politics and science, isn't that a pretty absurd position, regardless of a person's religion?

Response: Yes and no. The Catholic Church and, therefore, the Pope and Bishops, claim teaching authority in the areas of faith and morals only. The Church claims no expertise in the areas of politics, economics, science, literature, the arts, etc. That said, faith and morals touch on all aspects of human existence, including politics, economics, science, literature, the arts, etc. For example, Pope Francis recently has been critical of certain aspects of capitalism and communism. His criticism has been based upon the dogma of the dignity of the human person and the moral imperative that arises from it, which requires that we give preferential treatment to the poor. When a political or economic system, law or other government act fails to respect and promote the dignity of the human person, the Church will speak out against it. While this may look like dabbling in politics or economics, the Pope is speaking about a moral issue that’s arising out of a politico-economic system. The Pope and Bishops are careful (most of them) not to make pronouncements that are outside of the Church’s areas of expertise – they don’t tell governments how to achieve their political ends, but they will comment on whether the means and ends chosen are moral. It’s not an absurd position to say that the Pope should stay out of politics and science because these are not the Church’s areas of expertise. However, it is an absurd position to expect that the Church’s teachings would not have ramifications on the other disciplines Such as politics and science because faith and morals touch all aspects of human existence.