The feud between Pope Leo and President Trump over U.S. immigration policy and military action in Iran raises important questions about the propriety of observing boundaries and not crossing certain lines.
Little needs to be said about the president’s behavior on this score, except to recall Hilaire Belloc’s description of Henry VIII, whose chief characteristic “was an inability to withstand impulse.” Belloc astutely observes that the sixteenth-century monarch “was passionate for having his own way – which is almost the opposite of having strength of the will.” It was this lack of self-restraint, he notes, that prevented Henry from understanding when “this lack of self-control passed the bounds of common decency.”
More critical for Catholics is the question of whether Pope Leo, some U.S. bishops, and other Church officials might themselves have crossed important lines, not in their personal demeanor, but in the substance of their pronouncements.
As Pope Leo has encouraged us to do, I have been revisiting the documents of Vatican II. One major takeaway from that treasure trove of Christian teaching is the clear distinction modern Catholic social thought draws between doctrines and principles, on the one hand, and their prudential application in particular cases, on the
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