On September 24, 2015 at 10:00 a.m, the Holy Father of the Catholic Church made history by becoming the first Pope to address the United States Congress in a joint session. This event was highly anticipated, not only because it is a historic moment, but also because Pope Francis’s progressive opinions have sent shockwaves through both the Catholic society, and the global community. And this is exactly where the majority of his message lay; that we should not be divided by nationality, religion or gender, but that we are indeed one, united global community.
In classic American patriotism fashion, as soon as Pope Francis said, five lines into his speech, “…the land of the free and the home of the brave” the audience erupted into a standing ovation, proving it was more of an “opera” style speech, as opposed to the “symphony” style. It also took about this long for John Boehner to start tearing up. Shocking. Before diving into the rest of the address, I think it must be pointed out that yes, today this Pope spoke to a joint session of Congress, one in which the two who sat directly behind the Pope were joined together by their common religious beliefs. Even those who do not practice the same beliefs were able to sweep away their differences for an hour to hear a man with such power speak with such conviction about the most pressing issues of our world.
To deliver his messages, Pope Francis spoke through four Americans whom he truly believes embody what it means to inspire and motivate those who follow them. Through Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, the Holy Father made emphatic points about immigration reform, the death penalty, and social justice issues as well as other affairs. However, his words that evoked perhaps the greatest amount of cheers from the crowd were ones we already knew, The Golden Rule; Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. He furthered this by saying, “…if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us.” Above all, Pope Francis made his point absolutely clear: we are responsible for human life everywhere and anywhere, at all stages. From abortion to the death penalty, illegal immigrants and the American poor, it is our absolute duty to care for all.
What does this mean for us though? Certainly we should feel compelled to live out the Pope’s message, picking up the fallen and uniting as one America, and one world. Wouldn’t this be nice? But America is clearly not in a state where that can happen just yet, as Boehner was so moved by his words and so aggravated by the current Congressional status that he announced his resignation Friday. So maybe if our current leaders cannot allow the words of the Holy Father to inspire them for a better future, then it's up to us, the next generation of leaders, to not just preach the Golden Rule, but practice it too.
God Bless America.
