Father Frank Pavone on Pope Francis, Politics, and Catholic Social teaching

If there is a rift or a war between the Pope and the GOP, it's because there are important divergences, for the very same reason that there is a rift between the Pope and the Democratic Party. Perhaps what unites us all above anything else is the need to constantly repent and reform.

It remains true that the right to life is the most fundamental right and that the duty to defend it is a more urgent priority than other social justice priorities. But to what extent that fact helps or hurts a political party depends upon the party, and his willingness to change its positions, more than upon the church. In the end, the question about the relationship between the church and political parties is not so much about whether we endorse them, but rather about whether they endorse us. - Fr Frank Pavone

CHICAGO,IL (Catholic Online) - Below is a brief interview with Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, in response to a Jan. 13 commentary at The Week.

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Matt C. Abbott:  Father, will you comment on the article titled "The Republican Party's war with Pope Francis has finally started"?

Father Pavone:  My work with Priests for Life involves a lot of interaction with the Vatican and even some with Pope Francis personally.

I will be there again in the first week of March for our annual General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, of which I am a member.

Moreover, one of our long time advisors of Priests for Life is His Eminence Cardinal Renato Martino, who served as the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and was the primary person responsible for bringing about the lengthy document Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.

The Cardinal and I have discussed very often what the Compendium says about the fact that no political party or platform corresponds perfectly to the social teaching of the church.

Fidelity to the Gospel requires that we be able to prophetically challenge the positions of all political parties, and that our loyalty to Christ and his teaching supersedes our loyalty to any political party, although such loyalties are not per se incompatible with being a Christian.

Cardinal Martino, for instance, has been a champion of defending the rights of the unborn, especially in the international arena, and at the same time is a very strong opponent of the death penalty and has worked to even increase the Church's emphasis on the need to abolish it.

Within the boundaries of Catholic teaching, members of the laity as well as members of the hierarchy, while maintaining their fidelity to the overall teachings, are each going to have their own particular sphere of emphasis.

This is true of popes as well.

Now, when a political party's platform corresponds to the teaching of the church on matters that are more fundamental than those in which it departs from that teaching, then it is going to appear as though the church is more aligned with that party.

It remains true that the right to life is the most fundamental right and that the duty to defend it is a more urgent priority than other social justice priorities. But to what extent that fact helps or hurts a political party depends upon the party, and his willingness to change its positions, more than upon the church.

In the end, the question about the relationship between the church and political parties is not so much about whether we endorse them, but rather about whether they endorse us.

It is also essential to realize that nothing has changed in terms of what we teach not only about the issues but about the role of the Pope. The Pope is not an Oracle; he is a custodian, along with all the other bishops, of a teaching that he neither created nor can change.

The statements of a Pope are always meant to be received and read in the light of the entire body of church teaching and of human reason.

The statement of a Pope about the environment is going to conform with the section about the environment in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, and the absence of a statement from a Pope about the right to life (though Pope Francis has been anything but silent on that) does not in any way lessen the force of such documents as The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae), the 20th anniversary of which is approaching on March 25.

So yes, if there is a rift or a war between the Pope and the GOP, it's because there are important divergences, for the very same reason that there is a rift between the Pope and the Democratic Party. Perhaps what unites us all above anything else is the need to constantly repent and reform.

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Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic commentator with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication, Media and Theatre from Northeastern Illinois University. He has been interviewed on MSNBC, NPR and WLS-TV in Chicago, and has been quoted in The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com.

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