Reagan and JP II vs. Trump and Francis

May 2, 1984, 10 a.m. John Paul II’s plane lands at the airport in Fairbanks, Alaska to refuel. There in an airport lounge, he meets with the great Ronald Reagan, who had just returned from visiting China, and the words they exchange are more than diplomacy, they are, in fact, the basis for the construction of a free and prosperous West.

“In a violent world, Your Holiness, you have been a minister of peace and love,” Reagan told the Pope, “Your words, your prayers, your example have made you—for those who suffer oppression or the violence of war—a source of solace, inspiration, and hope. For this historic ministry the American people are grateful to you, and we wish you every encouragement in your journeys for peace and understanding in the world.”

“Openness to others begins in the heart,” St. John Paul II noted at the time, “if men and women hope to transform society, they must begin by changing their own hearts first. Only with a new heart can one rediscover clear sightedness and impartiality with freedom of spirit, the sense of justice with respect to the rights of man, the sense of equity with global solidarity between the rich and the poor, mutual trust and fraternal love.”

The Pope also told Reagan: “Even when I am miles away, I hold the people of Alaska and those of the whole of the United States close to me in my heart. I do not forget you, for we are linked together by bonds of friendship, of faith, and of love.”

John Paul II was smart, good, funny, and holy, maybe in that order or the other way around, whatever. Reagan was almost all of those things too. Both had been actors years before. Both held great responsibilities in the 1980s: peace, freedom, and the salvation of souls. Men of faith, courageous, deeply convinced that communism was the political incarnation of the devil. They knew it well.

It’s Useless Comparing Popes. Here Goes Anyway.

Today I saw a photo of Grace Reilly on Instagram, in front of The Reagan Ranch, a nod to the new movie, and it made me think of the thunderous void left by Pope Francis’ failure to show up to fight communism; from Biden, the abortionist Catholic, I expect nothing, of course. (RELATED: The Weekend Spectator Ep. 9: Reagan Hits Theaters)

For a Catholic, comparing popes is a bit stupid, but we do it anyway. We know that John Paul II was a great saint and had a good sense of humor, and we know that Benedict XVI was one of the most important intellectuals of his time, whom we still read with fruition and pleasure because his texts are of marvelous beauty and depth.

Pope Francis has been thrust into an era that is more like the one in which the Polish pope lived because the resurgence of communism is threatening the world. Not so much because there are more communists than before, but because the Left in the West is quietly abandoning socialism and social democracy in favor of Bolivarian communism.

Meanwhile, in Venezuela, the mustachioed walrus continues to sit on the chair he usurped from Venezuelans, making it clear day by day that his regime is communist and criminal, and that it must be eliminated from the face of the earth as soon as possible, if only for aesthetic reasons: Maduro is ugly as hell. (RELATED: Maduro, Get Down From Your Tree and Scram)

Pope Francis does not seem interested in leading the free world’s response to the communist threat, as his predecessor did. Yet he baffles us daily with comments on immigration, assuring us that “to repel migrants … is a grave sin.”

We Should Still Pray for Pope Francis, Even If He Disconcerts Us

I swear I have read the Catechism six times since yesterday and found nothing about that new grave sin, but I did find a lot of stuff about respect for private property. For example, point 2403: “The right to private property, acquired or received in a just way, does not do away with the original gift of the earth to the whole of mankind. The universal destination of goods remains primordial, even if the promotion of the common good requires respect for the right to private property and its exercise.”

The illegal immigrants, essentially Islamic, that we receive in Europe, for example, do not seem very uncomfortable violating point 2239, where the Catechism speaks of the “duties of citizens.” And, in general, Pope Francis forgets point 2414, dedicated to the mafias (and complicit governments) that traffic in people to bring illegal immigrants to the Mediterranean coasts: “The seventh commandment forbids acts or enterprises that for any reason – selfish or ideological, commercial, or totalitarian – lead to the enslavement of human beings, to their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in disregard for their personal dignity.” (READ MORE: The Trump Revolution)

I know that we cannot, unfortunately, go back to Reagan and John Paul II. But we Christians have not changed, our doctrine is still committed to love, but also to justice, charity, responsibility, tolerance, and the survival of our own.

So let us pray for the Berlin Wall to fall again, and if possible for it to fall on Maduro’s head, and let us pray to God for Pope Francis, even if he sometimes disconcerts us. If Trump makes it back to the White House, with his usual loquacity, I am convinced that he will be happy to explain the Pope’s mistake when he makes his first visit to the Vatican.

The post Reagan and JP II vs. Trump and Francis appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.