Francis

Jerold Duquette

September 25, 2015

While I completely agree with Professor Cunningham about this Pope’s utter indifference to partisan politics, I also agree with much of Molly Ball’s argument in The Atlantic about “Why Pope Francis Sounds Like a Democrat.” I think conservatives are right to fear the potential political impact of a Pope who sees the world through the lens of liberation theology, a perspective that has very little use for either righteousness or indignation, two emotional/rhetorical poses that have for decades been absolutely essential to the proliferation and defense of political conservatism in America. When conservative pols and pundits intone that this Pope is a communist or the like, it is just as nuts as any of the right’s paranoid ravings, but unlike their fear of President Obama, Hillary Clinton, immigrants, foreigners, and liberals in general I think this Pope’s message actually does pose a real (though not existential) threat to the modern conservative movement in America.

Francis

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