Jesus Christ is said to
have selected St. Peter as his successor, entrusting him with the
responsibility of nurturing and taking care of his people. The Pope is said to
be the successor of St. Peters. Hence he is the representative of Christ on
earth that should represent love, compassion and empathy for each and every
individual on earth. The Pope's primary responsibility is interaction with the
folks, to know their wants, to comprehend their needs, to empathize with their
problems, to recognize their passions, to comfort their sorrow and to enhance
their happiness. The hope is that his presence and words will provide people
with solace and spiritual guidance.
Politics is by its very
nature, divisive. It is a very simple principle, a multitude of candidates
conduct campaigns to propagate their vision, to highlight issues that matter to
them and to put forth their plans to resolve problems. The people then vote for
the candidate they prefer the most. There will always be supporters of one
candidate that will dislike the other candidate. There will be zealous
supporters of a candidate that will despise another candidate with a passion.
It is therefore important that an individual who wants patronage from an entire
people stay away from politics, this mean no endorsements and no opposition.
The Vicar of Christ on
earth, broke this cardinal rule yesterday. While flying back to the Vatican
after his visit to Mexico, a journalist asked Pope Francis about Donald Trump’s
plan to build a wall along the Mexican border to prevent illegal immigrants
from entering. The journalist inquired if the Pope thought that American
Catholics could vote for a man such a Trump. “A person who thinks only about
building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not
Christian. . . . I say only that this man is not Christian if he says things
like that.” Pope Francis added that he
would give Mr. Trump “the benefit of the doubt”, but the damage was already
done. As stated earlier the Pope's primary responsibility is contact with the
common folk, but this contact is futile in the absence of respect for the
common folk. This respect means faith in them to do the right thing and elect
the right candidate. As a man of faith, the Pope should treat the faith of
others with respect. He is a representative of god, but he is not god and
neither is he a supreme leader of country. It is emphatically not up to him to
decide who is and who isn’t a Christian.
In his response to the
Pope, Trump reiterated his commitment to fight against illegal emigration to
the U.S., and added if the Vatican is attacked by Islamic State, the pope would
have “wished and prayed for a leader like Trump”. The very next day Trump softened
his stance as he professed respect and admiration for the Pope. He added that
the Pope had a lot of personality and was doing a very good job. Trump
considered the possibility that the pontiff was misinformed when he criticized
the proposed wall, because he was not aware of the problems that made an
impenetrable border a compulsion. What may surprise many is that Trump behaved
more Christ like than the representative of Christ, in choosing to forgive and
forget, but more importantly to profess respect for the man who attacked him.
There has been no reaction from the Pope so far. Another significant point that
was raised by many Trump supporters on social media is about the Vatican City
that hosts the Pontiff. The Vatican City is guarded by sturdy walls and there
are also the more contemporary measures of security for those intending access
to libraries and other places of interest in that area. The Pope's attack on
Trump may also be construed as hypocritical.
Back in 2013, when asked
about the possibility of gay priests, the Pope replied ‘If someone is gay and
he searches for the Lord and has good will. Who am I to judge?” It has to be
noted that homosexuality has largely been a taboo topic by the Catholic Church,
the previous Pope Benedict termed it as “strong tendency ordered toward an
intrinsic moral evil”. Pope John Paul II has strongly opposed the idea of
female priests. But Pope Francis took a different view, he said that he sought
‘a theology of women’ and hoped for greater role for women in Catholic Life.
Pope Francis also said that contraception may be acceptable in cases of Zika
virus risk. Is the Pope trying to adopt to changing times to make the Catholic
faith more inclusive? If so why did he violate this new found principle of
tolerance when it came to Trump? It is
essential that a man of importance such as the Pope listen to both sides of the
argument before passing judgment. Such as the killing of Kate Steinle at the
hands of a criminal illegal immigrant and the failure of the Mexican government
to take measure to curb it.
There is no denying that
Trump has shaken American politics to its core. The proof is that he not only
faces fervently opposition from the party that he does not belong to, but he
faces perhaps a tougher opposition from the party he does belongs to. The
opposition also comes from the media in the form of juvenile, petty, vituperative
and slanderous attacks. First they said he would never run for President, then
they said he would never last in the race for long, then they said he would
never do well in the polls, then they said the polls won’t translate to actual
votes and victories and then they said the victories would not be emphatic.
They have been proven wrong at every stage. This week even President Obama
opined as he stuttered while pronouncing Trump’s name, he said he did not think
Trump would be President. So much for a sitting President to talk about a man
who isn’t yet the nominee of his party. Days later this attack from the Pope.
People have always talked
about the coalition among the political establishment, the corporate, the media
and religious groups. The manner in which this coordinated attack is unfolding
give the impression that there may be some truth to this. Prior to Trump there
have been the some politicians who have espoused libertarian positions and the
need for campaign finance reforms, but they have been on fringe of the
mainstream with very little popular support. Trump on the other hand has been a
huge success despite doing this for just six months. He is self-funding that
means no unholy deals with special interests and no ‘speaking fees’ upon
retirement. Is it the seeming inevitability of a Trump presidency that is
throwing the establishment into a panic which is causing them to fire venomous
arrows hoping that at least something will stick.
Let’s look at the
potential effect of the Papal attack on Trump’s chances in South Carolina. The Christian base in SC is largely
Evangelical, not Catholic hence there will be very little effect. Also
Evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr., who a huge Trump supporter castigated the
Pope had trespassing the realms of his religious duty. "Jesus never
intended to give instructions to political leaders on how to run a
country," Falwell said to CNN. Unlike his predecessors such as Pope John
Paul II, the current Pope does not enjoy huge popularity in the US and this
attack may not improve things.
This week was supposed to
be significant for Marco Rubio as he picked up the endorsement of Governor
Nikki Haley. But for the media who is looking for confrontation, the story of
the endorsement paled in comparison to the ‘Trump vs. Pope’ feud narrative. An
endorsement without airtime and publicity is rather futile. Thus Trump proved
again his proclivity to dominate the media, even if this particular case he
didn’t intend to. All this just two days before the SC primary.
It has to be noted that
neither the Pope, nor President Obama has directly urged people not to vote for
Trump, they had gone as far as they can to imply that. But the nature and timing of these baseless
attacks will certainly make the voter take notice about the establishment and
their extreme dislike towards somebody they approve of. What is it that Trump
espouses that is causing them such concern? All through history the public has
a way of showing the powers that be that they have their own mind and will do
with they think is right. They do not like to be told what to do both
explicitly or implicitly. This coordinated attack may have consequences that
are opposite to what the attackers desired. This will result in Donald Trump
securing a significant victory in South Carolina and beyond!
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