#PopeInPhilly – Intro to International Relations

Pope Francis will travel to the United States for the first time ever on Tuesday, September 22nd. In my hometown of Philadelphia, Pa, there has been plenty of buzz regarding his grand arrival, including sold out transportation into and out of the city of “Brotherly Love” and the trending hashtag — #PopeInPhilly. There are estimates of around 2 million people that plan to travel to Philadelphia to attend his Masses at church, and gather at the Ben Franklin Parkway, where the famous Philadelphia Museum of Art is located. Saturday evening, there is a festival of families where he will stand atop the Museum steps, (made popular by the Rocky movie series) and speak to one-million plus crowd in attendance.

It is quite an interesting time to come to America for the first time, as there has been a great deal of arguments regarding religion. A front runner of the GOP presidential nomination, Dr. Ben Carson, stated that he “would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation” because Islam is “inconsistent with the values and principles of America.” Dr. Carson is a Holy Father, and credits his religious faith to his family’s overcoming of poverty. To no surprise, many Muslim Americans criticize his chauvinistic statements. Although many misinterpret President Barack Obama as a Muslim, he frequently speaks of his Christian faith.

In addition to the religious bigotry of Dr. Carson, there is another Republican making news of his stance about Pope Francis: “When the Pope chooses to act and talk like a leftist politician, then he can expect to be treated like one.” Representative Paul Goser believes Pope Francis will focus on climate change and shares he plans to boycott the Pope’s speech.

The Pope clearly has chosen a poor time to visit the United States with all of the dissonant religious debates, however, many people who travelled to Washington DC, New York, and Philadelphia are excited to hear what he says as a pastor, rather than a politician. He ends his memorable trip to America on Sunday where he departs from Philadelphia back to Rome.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/13/politics/barack-obama-religion-christian-misperceptions/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/21/politics/pope-francis-religion-united-states/index.html

Madeline Wittich says:

September 23, 2015 at 11:44 am

I was scrolling through nytimes.com and came across this article which I thought was very applicable to your post.

It discusses what the right and left wish Pope Francis were doing – “Not all observant Catholics agree with him on the issues: Some conservatives feel he has watered down true belief; some liberals are angry that he has not changed a word of Catholic doctrine.”

While some catholics are displeased with Pope Francis, people practicing other religions seem to be fond of him – “I believe he’s a world leader more than a religious leader,” said Sasha Datta, a practicing Hindu who is planning to try to see Francis in Washington. “His openness, his ability to not shy away from real issues — I see a lot of hope when I see people like Pope Francis.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/us/pope-francis-popularity-bridges-great-divides.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0