Pope Francis Comes To America

The Pope is coming to the United States.  I can't wait.

I can't wait for Pope Francis to go to Philadelphia and explain what family values really are during the World Meeting of Families.  I want him to underscore how we should be paying more attention to strengthening families.    

I can't wait for him to go to New York before that and address the United Nations and lay out a blueprint for global peace and how to achieve it.

But the moment I'm looking forward to the most is His Holiness addressing a joint session of Congress and advocating compassion for the poor, deconstructing and tearing apart cowboy capitalism, and expressing his pro-life views by underscoring the need to protect the unborn after they've been born.  And oh yes, I want him to also express his pro-life views by denouncing the death penalty, a topic on which he was simpatico with Pope John Paul II, whom conservatives revere for being the liberator of Eastern Europe. 

But most of all, I want him to call for greater action against climate change in his address to Congress.

And then I want to see House Speaker John Boehner - a Catholic - squirm in his seat with a look on his face that says, "Boy, I miss Bibi!" while potential presidential candidate Joe Biden - also a Catholic - grins like the cat that ate the canary. 

Personally, I think Catholics who resist the Pope's liberal messages are hypocrites, but, as a Catholic, who am I to judge? ;-)