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In Biden’s go to with the pope, a web page from Reagan’s playbook?

(The Dialog) — President Joe Biden, who will meet Pope Francis on the Vatican on Oct. 29, is Catholic. The nation’s’ first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, visited the Vatican too. However conferences between U.S. presidents and popes have been a staple of politics because the Kennedy period, whether or not the president was Catholic or not.

Woodrow Wilson was the primary sitting president to fulfill a pope, visiting Pope Benedict XV amid peace negotiations after World Battle I. Dwight Eisenhower met John XXIII as a part of a world goodwill tour. Lyndon Johnson first met with Paul VI when the pontiff got here to New York for a historic address on the United Nations in 1965. Richard Nixon twice met with Paul VI, regardless of the Pope’s clear opposition to the war in Vietnam. Gerald Ford met with Paul VI in 1975, and Jimmy Carter greeted the new pope, John Paul II, in 1979.

These conferences all preceded the institution of formal diplomatic relations between america and the Holy See, because the Vatican city-state is thought in formal diplomacy. The 2 states lastly exchanged ambassadors in 1984, beneath Ronald Reagan and John Paul II. Each have been dedicated anti-communists, and their transfer to ascertain official ties marked an vital geopolitical alliance.

In my analysis on the relationship between Catholicism and U.S. politics, their partnership stands out as a turning level – and a boon for Reagan. On the time, he wanted a Catholic ally, and located one in John Paul II.

And right this moment, Biden faces a considerably comparable scenario.

President Joe Biden’s Oct. 2021 viewers with Pope Francis is not going to be the pair’s first assembly. Right here, the 2 shake arms earlier than the pope’s 2015 deal with to Congress.
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File

Widespread trigger

The Holy See has been an unbiased city-state since 1929, however in actuality, the pope has been a head of state at the very least because the eighth century.

It’s a distinctive scenario: a spiritual chief functioning absolutely as a head of state. But the Roman Catholic Church occupies a novel place in world historical past. As the first global power, the church has formed world politics for hundreds of years. Right now the church is just not solely house to greater than a billion believers, but it surely straight and not directly helps a tremendous amount of nonprofit work around the globe.

When Reagan formalized the long-standing U.S. diplomatic relationship with the Holy See in 1984, the church’s broad affect supplied a superb cause. However not the one one.

The earlier yr, shortly forward of his reelection marketing campaign, Reagan had cause to fret that Catholic voters may not help him. U.S. bishops had revealed a pastoral letter, “The Problem of Peace,” which mentioned that “good ends (defending one’s nation, defending freedom, and so forth.) can not justify immoral ends (the usage of weapons which kill indiscriminately and threaten entire societies).” It was a direct problem to the Reagan administration’s arms buildup, which had heated up the Chilly Battle.

The administration went to lengths to discredit the bishops, suggesting they were out of step with the pope. American public opinion was turning towards the arms race, and Reagan wanted a robust ally who may assist him hold on to Catholic voters.

Reagan found that ally in John Paul II, who shared his wariness towards the Soviet Union. Whereas the bishops’ pastoral was being drafted – a course of journalist Jim Castelli has traced in depth – John Paul warned that the church should not name for the U.S. to disarm unilaterally. The Polish pope had skilled Soviet domination and hoped to liberate the world from communist affect.

Given the president and the pope’s widespread trigger, Rome seemingly could be extra sympathetic to Reagan’s perspective than the U.S. bishops. The U.S. established diplomatic relations with the Holy See eight months after publication of “The Problem of Peace” and 10 months earlier than the 1984 election.

Abortion politics heated up within the run-up to the election, as pro-choice Catholic Mario Cuomo, the Democratic governor of New York, considered running for president. The Democrats finally nominated Walter Mondale, with one other pro-choice Catholic, Geraldine Ferraro, as his working mate. Reagan, who positioned himself as pro-life, centered consideration on the problem in one other effort to win again Catholic voters, one assured to hold approval from the pope.

Reagan gained the 1984 election in a historic landslide. He carried 49 states and took the best share of the Catholic vote that any Republican had gained to that time in historical past.

One other well timed journey?

Right now, 37 years later, the Biden presidency faces its personal Catholic dilemma – the newest chapter in an extended battle about Catholics in American public life, highlighting a deeper rift between U.S. bishops and the Vatican.

Many U.S. bishops wish to bar public figures from receiving the sacrament of Communion – the main target of each Catholic Mass – in the event that they help the proper to an abortion, which the church considers a grave sin. In 2019, a South Carolina priest refused to offer Communion to Biden due to the politician’s pro-choice stance.

In November, U.S. bishops will gather to debate a doc on “Eucharistic coherence,” which can include directions about who’s eligible for Communion.

However the Vatican has all however urged the bishops not to go ahead with the doc.

“I’ve by no means refused the Eucharist to anybody,” Pope Francis told reporters in September 2021, urging clergymen to consider the problem “as pastors” quite than from a political viewpoint.

As Biden prepares for his papal go to, the administration might have Reagan’s instructive historical past in thoughts. The president – like Reagan – might discover a extra receptive ear in Rome than at house.

(Steven P. Millies, Professor of Public Theology and Director of The Bernardin Heart, Catholic Theological Union. The views expressed on this commentary don’t essentially mirror these of Faith Information Service.)

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