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24 Apr 2008 12:27 pm

The President And Pontiff

Thomas Banchoff considers the Pope's and Bush's relationship. The president is keen to advance certain factions in a religious faith he does not share - for his own political purposes. That instrumental use of religion is at the core of today's "conservatism". But Banchoff notes that Benedict doesn't share Bush's political theology in all respects:

[For Benedict], political freedom is not God’s gift; it is a practical task, a way to protect and promote the inherent dignity and equality of human beings. Its advancement is a joint challenge to believers and non-believers alike, to be addressed through patient diplomacy and dialogue, not through the application of force.

It was striking to me that the Pope refused to address the president's authorization of inhumane treatment and torture of prisoners. This was not an accidental omission. In return, the president refused to engage the Pope on his own complicity in the systematic cover-up of child rape and teen abuse by his own priests. I have a feeling that history will not be as reticent.

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