home > by publication type > daily analysis > The Pope in America
Email
| Author: |
|---|
An American flag in St. Peter’s Square as the Pope greeted crowds there earlier this month. (AP /Pier Paolo Cito)
In seven trips to the United States in the last quarter of the twentieth century, the late Pope John Paul II carried on a lively relationship with Americans, alternately charming and challenging Catholics and non-Catholics alike. John Paul’s messages expressed hopes for America’s moral role in the world, as well as admonitions about materialism, and what he later called the “culture of death,” tolerating abortion and the death penalty. While U.S. presidents during his tenure took varying positions on abortion, John Paul and the White House found common cause in opposing communism, promoting educational and global health programs, and on human rights issues generally.
His successor, Benedict XVI, making his first visit as pope to the United States, is a much less known figure to most Americans, finds the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. But his goals and itinerary will seem familiar—holy Masses at sports stadiums, a UN address, and meetings with Catholic leaders and academics. Prior to becoming pope, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger visited the United States several times and was said to be particularly impressed by the country’s balance of church-state relations (TIME). In an April 17 Mass at Washington Nationals stadium the pope called Americans a “people of hope” but said the church as well as society was facing a crossroads over faith, “a weakening of the moral sense; a coarsening of social relations; and a growing forgetfulness of Christ and God.” This Backgrounder looks at the Vatican’s foreign policy and ties to the United States.
The Pew Forum’s recent report on the country’s religious landscape found U.S. Roman Catholics in a bit of flux. One-third of U.S. adults who were raised Catholic have left the church, which is coping with pressures including a shortage of priests and the lingering effects of the sex-abuse scandal that has cost the church prestige and billions of dollars in legal settlements. Yet the overall number of U.S. Catholics remains stable at nearly 70 million, the third-largest congregation in the world, helped in large part by the immigration of Catholic Hispanics.
But it is not the size of the U.S. church but its “depth of commitment” to the teachings of Jesus Christ that likely concerns Pope Benedict, says CFR Adjunct Senior Fellow Timothy Samuel Shah. In meetings with Catholic clergy and educators, Shah expects Benedict to press leaders on whether churches and Catholic educational institutions are “really inculcating the full range of Catholic teaching on a variety of issues.” At the same time, there has been great public anticipation about how Benedict would address the priest sex-abuse scandal, in which dioceses across the country have admitted to shielding priests known to have abused minors. The pope has addressed the issue repeatedly on the visit, expressing shame and concern about the pain it has caused. On April 17 he met in the papal embassy with five victims of sexual abuse (AP) by priests, offering them comfort and hope.
Also watched closely during Benedict’s visit will be his meeting with Jewish leaders, first in Washington, then New York, where he will make the third papal visit ever to a synagogue (IHT). Jewish leaders have responded with concern after the pope’s recent decision to revive the Latin liturgy of the Good Friday Mass, which includes a call for the conversion of Jews.
At the White House on April 16, the pope was greeted with an elaborate ceremony on the South Lawn attended by more than 13,000 people. Private talks between President George W. Bush and Benedict “devoted considerable time” (NYT) to the Middle East, including the Israel-Palestinian conflict and the situation in Iraq, said a White House statement. Pope Benedict, like John Paul before him, opposed the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. The pope’s April 18 speech in the hall of the UN General Assembly did not discuss specific cases but he called for a “deeper search for ways of pre-empting and managing conflicts by exploring every possible diplomatic avenue, and giving attention and encouragement to even the faintest sign of dialogue or desire for reconciliation.” Benedict also offered his endorsement of the concept of “responsibility to protect,” which holds that states unwilling or unable to shield their citizens from crimes against humanity should face international intervention (WashPost). In his address, the pope implored UN members to protect and defend human rights and respect religious freedoms.
Weigh in on this issue by emailing CFR.org.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
The report of this bipartisan Task Force of distinguished leaders and experts represents a strong consensus on the importance of repairing America's immigration policy. It makes the case that maintaining America's political and economic leadership depends on attracting talented and hard-working immigrants, and on securing the country's borders in a smart, effective, and humane way.
This report finds that nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security in the near term, and makes recommendations on how to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. deterrent nuclear force, prevent nuclear terrorism, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR
Complete list of Task Force reports
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
To request permission to reprint or reuse CFR material, please fill out this permissions request form (PDF), referring to the instructions on page 1.
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.