Friday, March 8, 2013

A New Pope

The Wall Street Journal today did an article on what to expect/want in a new pope.

Here's a piece of that:


Can democracy "long endure" if public policy compels religious institutions to be conveyor belts for government "services" that a religious community considers immoral? Or if the state decides who ought to be a religious minister? As an advocate for religious freedom in full and religious freedom for all, the new pope can help to strengthen civil society and its free institutions, which are both elementary schools of democracy and barriers against the encroachment of the Leviathan state.
Can democracy "long endure" if democracies lack a critical mass of citizens who cherish the common good as well as individual freedom, who complement self-reliance with voluntary charitable service to others, and who understand that they have obligations to future generations, not just to me, myself and I? A pope who calls the West out of the sandbox of self-absorption and into a nobler vision of human possibility could do wonders for the democratic project.
The next pope should be, in short, a charismatic, missionary culture warrior, challenging the world's democracies to rebuild their moral foundations and offering Catholic social doctrine as one tool for that urgent task.
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In all this, there is a call for Protestants to join Catholics in prayer for this hugely significant time for the entire Body of Christ, all of us.

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