Will New Jesuit Pope Reverse Moral Decline, Bring Hispanics into GOP Fold?
Readers of James Joyce know that the Jesuit educational institutions in Ireland revealed a Catholic Church at its civilizational best. Joyce couldn’t have written his monumental works without their discipline, vows to poverty, and overall godliness.
The new Jesuit leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, appears on the historical stage just when he’s most needed. With North America and Europe becoming increasingly secular and socialistic, Francis seems to have the toughness to draw in those Catholics who choose to disregard Church teachings about sexual promiscuity while thinking that contraceptives and abortions will erase their sinfulness.
The same with homosexuality. The entire executive branch of the government and the Democratic Party must see Francis as a threat to their headlong attempts to de-Christianize America in favor of anything-goes secularism.
It appears that a greater moral leadership will now be coming out of Latin America, the world’s strongest population of uncompromising Catholic believers. This has got to spell trouble for the Democrat’s hitherto successful attempts to woo Hispanics with welfare programs over a lifetime. Perhaps the newly arrived God-fearing immigrants will now feel more emboldened to reign in their children who drift too easily into gangs, joblessness, and welfare-sustained poverty.
Let American Catholics invite more priests from Latin America into their parishes. Let American Protestants take note of the moral resurgence that Pope Francis promises in his willingness to confront the world’s drift toward a secularly managed world without values, heritage, or tradition.
Social conservatives within the GOP have every reason to believe that the moral umbrella of the new Pope over the Americas will be wide enough to challenge the “throw money at the problem” Democrats and “it’s the economy, stupid” fiscal conservatives. American politics needs to acknowledge heritage deeper than money can cure.
