I cant wait til he.addresses.Congress The magnetic pope has sparked new enthusiasm around the world for the church and has flexed his political muscles internationally, most recently by helping to engineer a new relationship between the United States and Cuba. But Francis’s agenda, which also includes calls to address income inequality and limit climate change, is putting him at odds with Republicans, including GOP Catholics in the United States. Hours after President Obama announced moves to ease trade and travel restrictions to Cuba, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a practicing Catholic and potential 2016 presidential candidate, criticized the deal and Franciss role in it. “I would also ask His Holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy, which is critical for a free people, for a people to truly be free,” Rubio told reporters. Rubio said that Cubans “deserve the same chances to have democracy as the people of Argentina have had, where he comes from, as the people of Italy have, where he now lives.” His office declined additional comment for this story. Fellow Catholic Rep. Mario Diaz Balart (R-Fla.) said he wished Francis would stand up for the Cuban people rather than their oppressors. “Sadly, in the case of Cuba, the Catholic Church has not always applied its basic principles of human dignity and reverence for the God-given freedoms that belong to every soul. I was supremely disappointed by press reports that the Pope had a hand in urging President Obama to cede crucial leverage that could have been used to help the Cuban people become free,” Diaz Balart said. Its not the first time Francis has clashed with conservatives. Since his papal inauguration in March 2013, the pontiff has publicly made policy remarks about income inequality and the environment that many American Catholics werent used to hearing coming from the Vatican, and not just from the pulpit. thehill/homenews/administration/228289-pope-francis-splits-with-gop
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 15:37:05 +0000
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