Pope Francis to Address Congress

[Associate Justice PiT]

He's not gonna spare either side of the aisle. 

This most likely. He'll skewer Democrats on abortion and Republicans on their complete lack of empathy for the downtrodden

Is this Pope really still towing the line on abortion?  Ugh.  Get over it, people.  Sorry for being such an insensitive bastard on this issue, but I'm a insensitive bastard on this issue. 

     You don't have to like it, but the Pope upholds Church doctrine. That much goes without saying, yet people on the forum act like its a big deal anytime he says something in line with centuries of Catholic teaching.

[Maxwell]

Oh goody, a double headed, mutually reinforcing publicity stunt.

[DemPGH]

Yeah, pure publicity.

Plus, "Be meek and mild, feed the poor, be chaste" will fall on deaf ears certainly. 

[Flake]

Well this is certainly interesting news.

[Eraserhead]

This Pope is a good man. Hopefully he gives the Republicans a good (verbal) spanking!

[ilikeverin]

I hope he is there to promote the Bibel-approved leftist economic policies that he espouses so much in interviews and whatnot, and doesn't engage in topics like America's spiritual identity and nonsense like that. 

I have high hopes for this, because the Pope might be one of the few people the dolled-up bumbkins we know as Congressional Republicans might actually listen to. 

Why? They're all Protestants.

Protestants I know still look at the Pope as a revered and respected Christian figurehead. 

Not fundis. The Pope is close to being Antichrist to many Protestant fundamentalists.

This hasn't been true for many years, at least when it comes to US politicians.

[Cory]

He's not gonna spare either side of the aisle. 

This most likely. He'll skewer Democrats on abortion and Republicans on their complete lack of empathy for the downtrodden

Yeah, probably. The annoying part is I just know Fox News will promptly not report on any of the economic stuff and focus solely on the social issues acting like the Pope agrees with Republicans.

[TJ in Oregon]

He's not gonna spare either side of the aisle. 

This most likely. He'll skewer Democrats on abortion and Republicans on their complete lack of empathy for the downtrodden

Yeah, probably. The annoying part is I just know Fox News will promptly not report on any of the economic stuff and focus solely on the social issues acting like the Pope agrees with Republicans.

That depends on whether Fox News wants to domesticate the Pope or vilify him. It's rather touch-and-go at this point.

[Mr. Illini]

I hope he is there to promote the Bibel-approved leftist economic policies that he espouses so much in interviews and whatnot, and doesn't engage in topics like America's spiritual identity and nonsense like that. 

I have high hopes for this, because the Pope might be one of the few people the dolled-up bumbkins we know as Congressional Republicans might actually listen to. 

Why? They're all Protestants.

Protestants I know still look at the Pope as a revered and respected Christian figurehead. 

Not fundis. The Pope is close to being Antichrist to many Protestant fundamentalists.

I've been told in the past that I am not allowed to label myself a Christian because of my Catholic faith.

[Ebowed]

I'd rather attend Netanyahu's speech.

Speaking of which, did the GOP cave and not coordinate this with the White House, or is Obama being selective in picking which meaningless fights over when foreign leaders speak to Congress he'll bother to make a fuss over?

The Pope isn't up for election a couple of weeks after his visit...

[they don't love you like i love you]

My pastor once said during while answering one of those "text the pastor questions during the sermon" things to a question about if divisions in Christianity are something he saw as a huge obstacle and issue and used the last two Popes as examples by saying "Take the Pope as well as the last one, I agree with them both on issues such as poverty, there's obviously many things I disagree with them on such as the role of women".

Sounds like someone who clearly doesn't regard the Pope as the Antichrist and would probably be interested in what he'd have to say here.

[Lief 🗽]

Doesn't Bushie believe that Pope Francis is one of the candidates to be the Anti-Christ?

[Antonio the Sixth]

one of those "text the pastor questions during the sermon" things

LOL

BRTD's "church" never ceases to amaze.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Non-denominational.

Regardless though it's hard to call that a searing attack on the Pope.

[politicus]

Non-denominational.

Regardless though it's hard to call that a searing attack on the Pope.

Your church does not qualify as fundis, so that is not relevant. No one said liberal or mainline Christians were anti-Catholic.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Well take a look at who the fundamentalist Republicans voted for in the 2012 primary...Rick Santorum.

[TJ in Oregon]

Well take a look at who the fundamentalist Republicans voted for in the 2012 primary...Rick Santorum.

...after they'd exhausted every other conceivable alternative to Mitt Romney.

[TJ in Oregon]

Non-denominational.

Regardless though it's hard to call that a searing attack on the Pope.

Your church does not qualify as fundis, so that is not relevant. No one said liberal or mainline Christians were anti-Catholic.

Some still are but in a different sense; they tend to hate the Catholic Church because they (the anti-Catholic ones; not all mainliners) hate its teachings not because of the sort of wild conspiracy theories the Fundies seem to come up with.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Well take a look at who the fundamentalist Republicans voted for in the 2012 primary...Rick Santorum.

...after they'd exhausted every other conceivable alternative to Mitt Romney.

Right, but the obvious reason why isn't because Santorum was Catholic, but because he was clearly a terrible candidate. If they were so opposed to Catholics they would've never considered him and would've decided to just settle on Bachmann or someone, sure an awful candidate, but not really much worse than Santorum all things considered.

But besides that, let's consider that the SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE is a Republican Catholic. So that alone makes it pretty absurd to argue that the Republican Party is anti-Catholic, or even that all Republicans are Protestant.

[TJ in Oregon]

Well take a look at who the fundamentalist Republicans voted for in the 2012 primary...Rick Santorum.

...after they'd exhausted every other conceivable alternative to Mitt Romney.

Right, but the obvious reason why isn't because Santorum was Catholic, but because he was clearly a terrible candidate. If they were so opposed to Catholics they would've never considered him and would've decided to just settle on Bachmann or someone, sure an awful candidate, but not really much worse than Santorum all things considered.

But besides that, let's consider that the SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE is a Republican Catholic. So that alone makes it pretty absurd to argue that the Republican Party is anti-Catholic, or even that all Republicans are Protestant.

The Republican Party isn't anti-Catholic. However, there are some Evangelicals in it who are, certainly a minority.