Part of the Transcript, John Carr, founder of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life speaking.:
Let me make a little confession here. I think Pope Leo with his focus on Catholic social teaching could help us get beyond some of the what I call the pick a pope ecclesiology that haunts our church where folks say I'm part of the John Paul 2 generation. I'm a Benedict kind of Catholic. I'm part of team Francis. So now a lot of us are looking at what Leo wears or what language he speaks or uh uh his words and language to see if he's on our side. I think the question might be are we on his side.
In fact, by placing Catholic social teaching at the middle of his papacy, I would suggest that Pope Leo is lifting up one of the areas of greatest unity between himself uh John Paul 2, Benedict and Pope Francis. They in their own ways, their own words, different priorities, different emphases, they taught, affirmed, extended Catholic social teaching. Each of them insisted that Catholic social teaching was real doctrine, not marginal. It was integral, not optional. That it's at the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, not a matter of personal preference.
John Paul II was the apostle of solidarity. Benedict was a great teacher of social teaching and Francis exemplify then everything else. If we take this witness seriously, the common witness, we might have to change our behaviors, our attitudes. Some of us were tempted to apologize for all things Biden, including uh the opposition, any restrictions on the on abortion. I read in a Catholic publication someone said that President Trump is running the most Catholic, the most Christian administration either. We should not be cheerleaders for any politician. We should not be apologists for any administration. We should challenge all of them. And what it means is walking away from some of that partisanship that has meaning in this moment.
The lesson of Catholic social teaching means we can't support taking food from hungry families or healthcare from sick families or abandoning our commitment to help the poorest people on earth. We can't forget about unborn children who seem to be lost in the debate about abortion after dads. We can't sit by and watch immigrants who are part of our community be demonized and deported. They're not criminals. Uh and we can't abandon our traditions of providing some welcome for refugees as they're fleeting oppression.