The Pope won’t fit into usual religious molds, and that bothers some people

Pope Francis heads to the United States on Tuesday following his visit to Cuba, and he’s already stirred up a little debate, even though he isn’t here yet.

Republican Congressman Paul Gosar of Arizona has announced he will boycott the Pope’s speech to Congress this week because Pope Francis has blamed Western-style development for climate change.

And it’s true, the Pope has scolded corporations, energy companies and politicians for pushing the earth to the breaking point, which Congressman Gosar says is a whole lot of “leftist” rhetoric, and he, for one, won’t stand for it.

That’s the problem with this Pope &#8212 he doesn’t fit neatly into the usual political boxes.

He talks like a liberal activist on the environment, but he’s conservative on the right to life, and says it’s OK to spank kids. Yet, at the same time, he’s big on mercy, saying abortions can be forgiven, and that a lot of Catholics seem to be overly preoccupied with gay marriage and contraception. He even gave a blessing to immigrants without asking for their documents.

Any politician with a platform like that would pretty much have to give up politics.

But Francis preaches that the homeless are more important than the stock market, that it’s naive to trust the rich, and that weapons-makers can’t call themselves Christians.

As someone who spent a good deal of his life working in the slums of Buenos Aires, it’s very clear to him where God stands &#8212 God stands with poor people. I can see how that would make a politician uncomfortable.
Because if the Pope’s right, it means many of the politicians who’ve been invoking the Almighty have been putting words in His mouth, which is not nice.