Allan Lichtman
The President and the Pope
This week George Bush became the first American president to attend a Papal funeral. It is rare indeed for an American president to attend the funeral of any foreign dignitary. Bush’s attendance attests to the importance of Pope John Paul II to the history of the past quarter century. It also represents the growing efforts of Republicans to forge an alliance with Catholics. American Catholics are the crucial swing vote in modern American politics: most of the time, as goes the Catholic vote, so goes the presidential election.
When Bush and other Republicans speak of the “culture of life” they are drawing inspiration from Pope John Paul. However, the Pope had a far more expansive and consistent vision of the culture of life than most politicians. The Pope’s vision encompassed not just abortion and euthanasia, but also opposition to the death penalty and opposition to war. It also encompassed social justice for the poor and the oppressed. Politicians, however, have sought to pick and choose from this legacy to suit their own partisan purposes rather than uphold moral consistency. Go figure?
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