Trump vs. the Pope: the Latest Confrontation between Church and State

The latest public dust-up between the pope calling for peace and the Trump administration has a silver lining: it has provided another opportunity for people to discuss religion and politics; particularly Catholicism. The last three times this has happened so publicly has been with JFK, Mario Cuomo, and the Little Siters of the Poor.

In 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy was accused of being a potential puppet for the Vatican. He countered with a speech that was unimpressive theologically, but quelled protestant fears. In 1984, then-Governor Mario Cuomo tried to defend the indefensible position of a Catholic supporting abortion, but failed to convince anyone. And more recently, the Little Sisters of the Poor fought for their right not to provide contraception to employees. They had to depend on courts to uphold their right of conscience.

One thing we’ve learned from the latest public exchange between the pope and Trump administration is that Catholicism is not ideological. Both liberals and conservatives attack the Church, and both liberals and conservatives defend it. That’s because Christ and His Church emphasize serving the poor and needy AND upholding natural law, marriage and the family. JFK fought for civil rights of all people equally made in God’ image (Gn 1:27) while Cuomo’s critics and the Little Sisters of the Poor upheld the Church’s unchangeable doctrine on sexuality and human life. Although there is a hierarchy of goods, the Church defends the best of what's found in political ‘liberalism’ and ‘conservatism’. Generally, in a nutshell, the problem lies with liberals under-emphasize the Gospels’ message on truth and conservatives its message on mercy.

Nevertheless, Catholicism as a religion demonstrates again to the world the two tell-tale signs of its legitimacy. The first is that it doesn’t fit neatly into any political category, and the second is that it doesn’t fit neatly into the fallen world. The examples above demonstrate this. But perhaps the most obvious is illustrated in the fact that up until 1930 every Christian denomination condemned contraception as a grave sin against God and human nature. From that point on, beginning with Anglicans, every non-Catholic denomination fell like dominoes to the ideologies of man and the pressures of the world. The Catholic Church is the “last man standing” against the selfishness and conflux of modern intellectual errors that brought about our sexual revolution and culture of death. That's because, although individual Catholics will stray and compromise due to sin, her official Magisterium established by Christ will never capitulate to political and cultural currents because it can never teach error on matters of faith and morals. 'The gates of Hell will never prevail.'