Last week I wrote about how Father Quigley, a priest at UMass, had taught me about Catholic compassion and the possibility that Pope Francis’ demonstration of Catholic compassion would present an opportunity for liberals to broaden their appeal to Catholic voters. This week we learned that the Pope met with Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis, which has been taken by many as evidence that my political hypothesis was naïve at best. While I admit that upon hearing the news of this meeting I was genuinely disappointed, I quickly realized it was far from a “disaster” and that holding the Pope to conventional public relations standards is absurd. By visiting with Kim Davis Francis was indeed obeying Father Quigley’s moral directive.
Pope Francis has never signaled his support for altering Church doctrine on any of the hot button social issues that have energized American conservatives and turned off everybody else. He certainly has not suggested that the Church would ever sanction a redefinition of holy matrimony. A lot of liberal Catholics seem to have understood Francis’ stance on this issue as being like President Obama’s posture on the Defense of Marriage Act. Recall that the Obama Justice Department refused to defend the law in court, signaling the administration’s support for its repeal. Pope Francis, on the other hand, has said that Catholics must love everyone, and not pass moral judgment on anyone. He is not signaling his support for or opposition to any civil law or government policy. In Kim Davis’ case, the Pope believes that she has a right to conscientious objection to duties that violate her faith, but he is NOT endorsing her legal strategy, nor is he signaling negative moral judgment of same sex couples seeking marriage licenses.
The problem here is with our political antennae. The Vicar of Christ is NOT a politician, which means that he doesn’t send political signals. The Pope didn’t “signal” support for addressing the very real threat of climate change; he flatly told us that doing so is a moral imperative. The Pope didn’t “signal” support for welcoming immigrants with open arms, he flatly told us that doing so is a moral imperative. The Pope did NOT tell us, flatly or otherwise, that opposition to same sex marriage and/or liberal immigration policy is a moral imperative.
The very essence of Catholic compassion is compassion for the least and even the worst among us. Kim Davis needed the Pope’s compassion, and like it or not, she even deserved it. If the Pope’s visit with Kim Davis this week has interfered with your reception of his message of absolutely uncritical love from last week, then I think it is you who has your signals crossed.