New conservative boogeyman
Patrick Deneen at the
American Conservative on the Right's reaction to the new Pope:
Since the release of Evangelii Gaudium there have been countless articles and commentary about the economic portions of Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation. Some of the commentary has been downright bizarre, such as Rush Limbaugh denouncing the Pope as a Marxist, or Stuart Varney accusing Francis of being a neo-socialist. American conservatives grumbled but dutifully denounced a distorting media when Pope Francis seemed to go wobbly on homosexuality, but his criticisms of capitalism have crossed the line, and we now see the Pope being criticized and even denounced from nearly every rightward-leaning media pulpit in the land.
Not far below the surface of many of these critiques one hears the following refrain: why can’t the Pope just go back to talking about abortion? Why can’t we return the good old days of Pope John Paul II or Benedict XVI and talk 24/7/365 about sex? Why doesn’t Francis have the decency to limit himself to talking about Jesus and gays, while avoiding the rudeness of discussing economics in mixed company, an issue about which he has no expertise or competence?
Deenen's overall point is that the Catholic Church has always been anti-abortion and anti-sex, and that hasn't changed. But the Church's teachings on economics are also unchanged -- something that both the Right and Left seem to ignore.
But there has been no rupture—neither the one wished for by the left nor feared by the right. Pope Francis has been entirely consistent with those previous two Popes who are today alternatively hated or loved, for Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI spoke with equal force and power against the depredations of capitalism.
So what has changed? Deenen argues that it is one of narrative: you have a resurgent Left setting a narrative of the new Pope as a disrupter, "rupturing" the church from its past teachings. It's not true, but that's the story that has emerged, and one that is relevant given in these times of resurgent economic populism. More below the fold.
I think it is because of the left’s “narrative of disruption” that the right is panicked over Francis’s critiques of capitalism. These Vatican criticisms—suddenly salient in ways they weren’t when uttered by JPII and Benedict—need to be nipped in the bud before they do any damage.
Conservatives considered the Catholic Church an ally in their socially regressive cause, so long as they could ignore the Church's teachings on economics, war, and other inconvenient topics. That's become impossible in the current climate. So Deenen is right with that. But you can't ignore that this Pope himself has been clear about his desire to deemphasize those divisive social issues. He's started a dialogue with gay Catholic groups. He has said that if the church continues to obsess over divisive issues like abortion or homosexuality, "the church is likely to fall like a house of cards". Responding to criticism from an American bishop about his refusal to specifically address abortion, he said:
We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.
So yes, the narrative favors the Church's economic message, but that's being abetted by a Pope who prefers to focus on that economic message. For a GOP seeing its base of support dwindle, this is a knife to the gut -- they've bled enough. They thought Catholics were their people. Now, it turns out it was always a mirage.