WASHINGTON — In his historic Sept. 24 address before the joint session of Congress, Pope Francis called on U.S. lawmakers to advance the common good and reclaim the “historical memory of your people.”

“A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always based on care for the people.”

“To this you have been invited, called and convened by those who elected you,” the Pope stated at the outset of a speech that embraced those in the corridors of power, as well as those on the fringes of American society.

Framing his remarks within the spiritual and social legacy of four distinctively American “faces” — Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton — the Holy Father amplified how this lofty moral responsibility can best be discharged. And within this spiritual framework, he drew congressional attention to several issues of particular concern to the Church, such as environmental degradation, capital punishment and arms control.

By contrast, the Pope addressed abortion and the redefinition of marriage only indirectly, a discrepancy that provoked discomfort among some Catholic observers. Yet the broader consensus was that the papal discourse was a well-judged effort to dialogue with D.C.’s political elites, by drawing deeply from the wellspring of the Church’s Gospel-based social teachings.

“The Holy Father has brought to Congress a comprehensive view of human dignity in all its dimensions,” Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore told the Register.

“He offers a lesson on what it means to be a politician who has the obligation to serve the common good and the dignity of the individual.”

Archbishop Lori described the Pope’s remarks as a very “gentle and beautiful” invitation to dialogue. “Because in the midst of our political divisions as a country and in the midst of our competitive political system, these fundamental values can get lost.”

Bradley Lewis, an associate professor of philosophy at The Catholic University of America, echoed that judgment and believes the papal address offers rich guidance to a nation that has drifted from its moorings.

“When Francis said he wanted a dialogue, I think he meant it,” said Lewis. “He reminded us of our own best traditions and connected them to the Gospel.”

 

Faces of America

Facing the entire cohort of the U.S. government, from the Supreme Court to members of Congress and President Obama’s cabinet, Pope Francis sought to offer an antidote to the fractured partisan landscape on Capitol Hill and beyond.

He pointed to Moses, the lawgiver, who “symbolizes the need of peoples to keep alive their sense of unity by means of just legislation.” Further, “the figure of Moses leads us directly to God and thus to the transcendent dignity of the human being. Moses provides us with a good synthesis of your work: You are asked to protect, by means of the law, the image and likeness fashioned by God on every human face.”

The Pope raised up the often hidden contributions of the many ordinary Americans who elected the power brokers on Capitol Hill and still make the nation’s experiment in ordered liberty possible.

“These are men and women who are not concerned simply with paying their taxes, but in their own quiet way sustain the life of society. They generate solidarity by their actions, and they create organizations which offer a helping hand to those most in need.”

Likewise, as he discussed the work of Lincoln, King, Day and Merton, he sought to enter into dialogue with the elderly and young people “through the historical memory of your people.”

“He used Lincoln’s own statement — ‘a new birth of freedom’ — and talked about intellectual and political freedom,” said Archbishop Lori.

“That understanding of freedom and diversity would run counter to an overarching secularism that tries to level out” the distinctive practice and beliefs of faith.

 

A Big-Picture Approach

Some had a divergent takeaway about whether Pope Francis spoke strongly enough in defense of religious liberty, given the current challenges confronting faithful Catholics in America’s public square.

“The glaring omission in the speech was any reference to threats to religious liberty here in the United States,” said R.R. Reno, editor of First Things. “He gave no support to Catholics who have fought abortion, the redefinition of marriage, doctor-assisted suicide and other cultural issues.”

Added Reno, “The only specific issues he identified are associated with progressive politics in America: abolition of the death penalty, environmentalism and arms control.”

Stephen White, a fellow in the Catholic Studies Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, interpreted the Pope’s approach far more positively.

“I am not bothered by the Pope’s oblique references to issues that are important to some of us,” White said.

“The Pope’s big-picture approach sets the context for the day-to-day work in the trenches. But the culture wars aren’t the Church’s most attractive face,” he added. “It is important to remind our opponents and ourselves that the difficult struggles we engage in every day are for the sake of something more beautiful, and someone has to propose that, too.”

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., co-chairman of the bipartisan House Pro-Life Caucus, said he was moved by the Pope’s call for a new politics inspired by the “Golden Rule.” And he pointed to the Holy Father’s reference to support for human life “at every stage of development” and his defense of marriage and the family later in his address.

But Smith, like many Catholic leaders who oppose abortion and same-sex “marriage,” also emphasized that a call for dialogue and national unity should not be interpreted as a truce on such issues.

“It is important that people of faith and conviction resist efforts to violate basic moral laws,” he said.

 

Avoiding Misinterpretations

Smith said that he was especially concerned that the Obama administration would use the papal visit to downplay its own conflicting stands on life issues and religious freedom, citing the president’s Sept. 23 welcoming remarks at the White House.

“You remind us that people are only truly free when they can practice their faith freely. Here in the United States, we cherish religious liberty,” Obama told the Pope.

Yet, as Smith and other critics note, this is the same president that provoked a high-profile dispute with the U.S. bishops over an extremely narrow religious exemption for the Health and Human Services’ contraception mandate.

After the president offered his remarks at the ceremony, however, the Pope’s statement included a pointed endorsement of religious freedom, and he called for “fidelity to the nation’s founding principles.”

Further, the Pope expressed his “support [for the] institutions of marriage and the family at a critical moment in the history of our civilization.”

But these opening comments drew little media attention; it was his other remarks, referencing immigration and climate change, that drew the most headlines and defined the initial papal message for most of the public.

“It is striking how the liberal media tended to focus on the Pope’s call to combat ‘air pollution’ and the issue of immigration,” agreed Tom Farr, the director of the Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs.

A former U.S. diplomat, Farr understood the Pope’s desire to initiate a dialogue that could build bridges, but suggested the Pope’s occasionally ambiguous remarks also can generate confusion.

“I fear the same will be true of his speech to Congress. His call for abolition of the death penalty was quite explicit, but his reference to the protection of human life at every stage less so — and will easily be ignored.”

 

‘Came to Evangelize’

Archbishop Lori agreed that the Holy Father’s message could be “subtle” and said at times he was attempting to “strike a balance.” It was up to Church leaders and others, he said, to clarify such matters.

But the Baltimore archbishop said the politics surrounding the papal visit should not distract the faithful from the primary reason for his visit.

“The Pope came to evangelize. He came as a missionary of mercy. He came to present human dignity in light of the Person of Christ,” said Archbishop Lori.

“He told us we encounter Christ and then we try to encounter one another. We have to be courageous enough, clever enough and creative enough to advance this vision of human dignity in society. That is the right read of what the Pope is telling us.”