Pastoral visit

Pope Francis’ subtle challenge to Barack Obama

AD2000 Report

Contents - Oct 2015 Pastoral statement: Marriage Reinvented? - Bishop Michael Kennedy Call to action: Call for urgent action on Religious Education Pastoral visit: Pope Francis’ subtle challenge to Barack Obama - AD2000 Report Pastoral visit: Positive outcome of Pope Francis’ visit to Cuba - AD2000 Report APREL: Wake up the world - Religious Life back on the map - Anne Reeves Russia: Church and State in contemporary Russia - Fr Lawrence Cross Hebrew Catholics: “Salvation comes from the Jews” (John 4:22) - Andrew Sholl The Rosary: The Luminous Mysteries explained - Audrey English Letters: Audrey English responds to Dr Mobbs ... - Audrey English Letters: A further response to Dr Mobbs ... - Anne Lastman Letters: What is eternal life? - Francis Vrijmoed Letters: The rights of children - Robert Bom Books: ABORTION AND MARTYRDOM, edited by Aidan Nichols OP - Paul Simmons (reviewer) Books: HOW THE REFORMATION HAPPENED, by Hilaire Belloc - Paul Simmons (reviewer) Books: THROUGH THE YEAR WITH POPE FRANCIS: Daily Reflections, ed. Kevin Cotter - Paul Simmons (reviewer) Reflection: Fruit of the Garden - Anne Lastman

In his first speech in the United States, the welcome on the White House South Lawn, Pope Francis thanked the US President, Barack Obama, for his welcome to the United States, and then told him that American Catholics were making a major contribution to the country, and deserved to have their religious and conscientious values respected by the government.

The statement followed the US Supreme Court, backed by the Obama Administration, imposing same-sex marriage throughout the United States, and the homosexual agenda, despite strong opposition from churches and religious organisations.

The Pope also urged Americans to pay respect for the poor in their own country, and people in other countries – a reminder that corporate America, in particular, and sometimes its government, had acted in ways which disregarded the people in developing countries.

He ended his short address with the words, “God bless America.”

He said, “Mr. President, I am deeply grateful for your welcome in the name of all Americans.

“As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families. I look forward to these days of encounter and dialogue, in which I hope to listen to, and share, many of the hopes and dreams of the American people.

“During my visit I will have the honour of addressing Congress, where I hope, as a brother of this country, to offer words of encouragement to those called to guide the nation’s political future in fidelity to its founding principles.

“I will also travel to Philadelphia for the Eighth World Meeting of Families, to celebrate and support the institutions of marriage and the family at this, a critical moment in the history of our civilisation.

“Mr President, together with their fellow citizens, American Catholics are committed to building a society which is truly tolerant and inclusive, to safeguarding the rights of individuals and communities, and to rejecting every form of unjust discrimination.

“With countless other people of good will, they are likewise concerned that efforts to build a just and wisely ordered society respect their deepest concerns and their right to religious liberty.

“That freedom remains one of America’s most precious possessions. And, as my brothers, the United States Bishops, have reminded us, all are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.

“Mr President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution.

“Accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation.

“When it comes to the care of our ‘common home’, we are living at a critical moment of history.”

The Pope added, “We still have time to make the changes needed to bring about ‘a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change’ (Laudato Si’, 13).

“Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition not only of the kind of world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them.

“Our common home has been part of this group of the excluded which cries out to heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities and our societies.

“To use a telling phrase of the Reverend Martin Luther King, we can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honour it.

“We know by faith that ‘the Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home’ (Laudato Si’, 13).

“As Christians inspired by this certainty, we wish to commit ourselves to the conscious and responsible care of our common home.

“Mr President, the efforts which were recently made to mend broken relationships and to open new doors to cooperation within our human family represent positive steps along the path of reconciliation, justice and freedom.

“I would like all men and women of good will in this great nation to support the efforts of the international community to protect the vulnerable in our world and to stimulate integral and inclusive models of development, so that our brothers and sisters everywhere may know the blessings of peace and prosperity which God wills for all his children.

“Mr President, once again I thank you for your welcome, and I look forward to these days in your country. God bless America!”

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 28 No 9 (October 2015), p. 3