Is the Pope Republican?
Chris Matthews, a Catholic Democrat, isn’t sure, at least about the bishops, and neither was Sister Simone Campbell, executive director at the National Catholic Social Justice Lobby. While discussing the requirements that the Catholic Church must provide insurance for contraception (against its teachings), Matthews asked if the bishops were all aligned with a certain political party, based on their views on this.
MATTHEWS: Do you think they’re all Republican, the bishops?
CAMPBELL: I don’t know if they’re all Republican, but it sure seems that they’re speaking from the, the playbook, sort of possibly as surrogates for the Republican Party, I don’t know. But they certainly are engaged in politics that seem much more aligned with the Right.
Noel Sheppard, covering this for NewsBusters, comes up with the numbers regarding Catholics and political party.
Catholics in this country historically have been solidly Democratic, although this has waned in recent years.
As EWTN News reported in February, a 2011 Pew study found 48 percent of Catholics surveyed said they were Democrat or Democrat-leaning compared to 43 percent claiming to be Republican or Republican-leaning.
As such, it seems absurd to think all Catholic bishops are Republican.
So no, the Pope isn’t necessarily Republican, but he is Catholic. Matthews ought to know that. But for the Left, everything is political. Even religion.
Filed under: Abortion • Catholicism • Christianity • Doug • Religion
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Abortion and contraception are non-negotiable issues for the Catholic Church. While a single abortion is a sin, 50 million abortions is genicide. All other social and economic issues fade into the background for the Church.
The Democrats are pro choice, and the Republicans are pro life. While Bishops aren’t supposed to take sides (at least not directly)they do, and as a result a pro-Republican message eminates from the press releases and public statement of the USCCB and its members.
The Bishops take sides on things that the Catholic Church takes sides on; in this case the long-held belief that contraception is wrong. Standing up for that belief is neither Republican nor anti-Democrat. It is what the Catholic Church believes. It is Matthews who’s trying to politicize this.
(And I’m Protestant, so I don’t believe contraception is a sin, but I think that Catholic churches & agencies should be allowed to practice their religious beliefs and not be forced to directly pay for something they think is wrong.)