Over the last week and a half the campus of the Catholic University of America has been transformed. On September 23 we will welcome Pope Francis, who will celebrate the canonization Mass for Blessed Junipero Serra on the east portico of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The congregation will gather for the mass on the campus of Catholic University. In preparation for the Holy Father’s visit, a stage has been constructed, a three-story riser for the press has been built and miles of bike racks now line the campus perimeter and create a maze inside it.
It’s not just the campus that has been transformed. There has been a change in the tone and substance of conversation within the university community. CUA Students for Life and the CUA Green Club, College Republicans and College Democrats, Catholics and non-Catholics alike are anticipating the pope’s arrival. His homilies and press interviews get invoked in class discussions. Nineteen-year-olds cite papal encyclicals at the lunch table. These campus scenes are emblematic of the nation’s excitement for Francis’s visit. And it tells us something about the pope.
Pope Francis alternately delights and horrifies both the Right and the Left in American politics. He calls for protection of the environment and an end to abortion. He has harsh words for a free-market economy that imposes a “mentality of profit at any price,” and criticizes the effort “to cancel out sexual difference.” After the latest interview or homily or speech, a common reaction is “He said what?” This is in part due to the pope’s colorful language. Greed is not just “bad”; it’s the “dung of the Devil.” We are not accustomed to hearing talk like that. But we’re also not used to thinking as Francis does.
The Holy Father confounds our political categories because he is not a politician. He is the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and (as he once said himself) “a son of the Church.” When he speaks about the economy or the environment or the unborn he follows a long Catholic tradition of looking at the world through the eyes of faith. The focal point of life, as the Second Vatican Council taught in Gaudium et Spes (the Church in the Modern World), is God alone. This means that faith is not a political platform, nor a spiritual hobby. It informs every aspect of our lives.
Pope Francis’s visit invites Americans to recognize a power that transcends politics and a truth that does not rest on public opinion. This invitation is the key to his appeal. At the heart of his message is the love God reveals in the beauty of creation, the joy of family life and, most fully, in the person of Jesus Christ. Francis reminds us that God is actually with us.
It’s not an original message. But it’s one we need to hear.
John Garvey is president of the Catholic University of America. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
