Free Republic

While delivering the first address from a pontiff to a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, Pope Francis touched on topics ranging from the plight of immigrants to climate change and the death penalty. Many of his comments were lightly delivered and unlikely to elicit much controversy, though the reaction might be different if they were given by another world leader. Case in point: Toward the beginning of his address, Francis alluded to religious extremism, noting that "no religion is immune" from it. His full quote as prepared for delivery: "Our world is increasingly a place of violent conflict, hatred...

, was also a fervent opponent of abortion, birth control, Social Security and the sexual revolution. It's fitting that Pope Francis should have invoked Dorothy Day among his pantheon of great Americans -- she's a symbol of where leftists always go wrong. This pope is going wrong in the same way. The left's delusions of "social justice" seem indomitable -- impervious to evidence. The pope lauded Day for "her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, (which) were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints." Let's assume that Day's...

Normally, the issue of the pope's infallibility wouldn't much concern me, but it does get my attention when opportunists attempt to leverage his heft to advance their political agenda. As an evangelical Christian, I don't subscribe to the view that the pope is infallible, but I respect Catholics who do and have no desire to offend them in the slightest. So let's put aside the question of whether the pope is infallible and assume, for argument's sake, that he is.The next question is on what range of issues is he deemed infallible? Without researching the matter too deeply, I think...