Do the Republican presidential candidates really want to take on Pope Francis over his encyclical to be officially released tomorrow, saying human activity is the cause of global warming and calling for the phase out of fossil fuels?
They may have no choice as the hoard of Presidential wannabes fight each other off to kiss the rings and genuflect before Charles and David Koch, the right-wing billionaires who are ardent client deniers and paymasters of the GOP.
During his first official day of campaigning, Jeb Bush, considered by some the moderate in the GOP ranks, showed his true colors. Eager to inherit the Bush III Presidential family prize, Jeb suggested the Pontiff keep his nose out of politics.
Catholic Bush, in a tepid attempt to mimic John F. Kennedy's famous declaration of freedom from Rome, said: "I hope I'm not going to get castigated for saying this by may priest back home, but I don't get economic policy from my bishops or my cardinal or my Pope. I think religion ought to be making us better as people and less about things that end up getting in the political realm."
Bush shouldn't worry about being castigated by the good padre back in Coral Gables. But he'll be shredded for suggesting that Pope Francis, who heads a 2,000-year-old global institution with 1.2B members, should shun politics. The Church is called "Catholic" for a reason. Pope Francis is the world's top politician.
The Pope's teaching letter shows concern for the disproportionate negative impact (rising seas, droughts, extreme heat, arable land loss) climate change has on the world's poor. Jeb, who converted to Catholicism, must know his religion is more than the born-again belief of evangelicals. Working for social justice is a core element of the Catholic Church, which makes the global poor Pope Francis' constituency. He has more authority to speak out on global matters than the governor of a hot, humid and swampy southeastern US state.
There's something about Francis that makes Republican candidates nuttier than they usually are. Rick Santorum, another of the Catholic Five seeking the GOP, believes the Pope should leave global warming to the scientists.
Since 97 percent of scientists believe human activity is a major cause of warming, Francis would have no problem with that.
Two years into his office, Pope Francis is viewed favorably by 86 percent of American Catholics. The GOP should take note.
The ridiculously high prices Americans are paying at the supermarket might influence how—or if—they vote in November.
At a moment in history when there are so many conflicts among peoples here and abroad, let us put our differences aside and celebrate this wonderful season in a spirit of togetherness.
The news announcing the death of Henry Kissinger, the last of the prevaricating politicians and so-called statesmen who stole my future and that of thousands of other young Americans, got me thinking about Walter Cronkite.
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