Nothing explicitly Christian about Pope’s speech
I just finished listening to the Pope’s speech to Congress from earlier today (watch below). There is no question that the occasion was historic—the first time ever that a Pope has delivered such an address. Indeed, it would have been impossible to imagine such an invitation being extended just fifty years ago. But the times have changed, and now the United States Congress has done something unprecedented.Nevertheless, even though the speech was historic, it was also a disappointment—not so much for what he did say but for what he didn’t say. For example:
1. The Pope didn’t mention Jesus. Not even in passing. He moralized and polticized, but he rooted none of it in anything explicitly Christian. He stands before the United States Congress—a platform that commands the attention of the world—and he says nothing about the heart of the Christian gospel. Nothing about Jesus Christ crucified and raised for sinners. Nothing about the Kingdom of God and the renewal of all things in Christ. Nothing about forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and the summing up of all things in Christ. It seems to me that a man who is supposed to be God’s apostle on earth might speak with a little more clarity about the author and perfecter of our faith. As it is, his speech could have been uttered in good conscience by a Jew or a Muslim. There literally was nothing distinctively Christian about it.
2. The Pope didn’t speak prophetically but politically. The Pope spoke clearly and at length in support of liberal political priorities—climate change, immigration, abolishing the death penalty. He spoke vaguely and briefly (if at all) about the most contested social issues of our time—abortion, marriage, and religious liberty.
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