The Surprisingly Very Catholic America Welcomes Pope Francis

Published in Diário de Notícias
(Portugal) on 21 September 2015
by Helena Tecedeiro (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Rita Oliveira Almeida. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
Long gone are the days when John F. Kennedy had to deny being a spy in the service of the pope and to swear his loyalty first to the nation and only then to the Vatican in order to convince Americans to vote for him. It is true that since that distant year of 1960, the United States has never again had a Catholic president. However, if in the past it was a stigma for any American politician to declare his Catholic faith — because that could cost him the election, as was the case with Democrat Al Smith in 1928 — nowadays everything is different. Not only does Obama have a Catholic vice president and secretary of state, Joe Biden and John Kerry, but when we look at the candidates for the White House, we encounter a handful of Catholics, whether Democrats or Republicans, from Martin O’Malley to Marco Rubio or from Chris Christie to Jeb Bush. Is it a sign of our times? Perhaps. But it is not only in politics that America is becoming more and more Catholic. In the Supreme Court, whose decisions shape the United States, six out of the nine judges are Catholic. If we think about it, it is a case of over-representation, since the 78.2 million Catholics only represent 25 percent of the entire American population. It is a number which owes its weight to the Hispanic community in America; in 2003, it outclassed blacks as the biggest minority. This America, in which pedophilia scandals in the church apparently didn’t prevent it from becoming extremely Catholic, is welcoming Francis on Wednesday, the first pope from the Americas; an Argentine, Jorge Bergoglio, who waited until he was pope to make his first visit to the United States.


Longe vão os tempos em que John F. Kennedy teve de negar ser um espião ao serviço do Papa e jurar que a sua lealdade ia primeiro para a pátria e só depois para o Vaticano para convencer os americanos a votar nele para a Casa Branca. É verdade que desde aquele longínquo ano de 1960 os Estados Unidos não voltaram a ter um presidente católico. Mas se no passado professar a fé católica era um estigma para qualquer político americano - que lhe podia custar a eleição, como aconteceu com o democrata Al Smith nas presidenciais de 1928 -, hoje tudo é muito diferente. Não só Obama tem um vice-presidente - Joe Biden - e um secretário de Estado - John Kerry - católicos, como quando olhamos para os candidatos a suceder-lhe na Casa Branca deparamo-nos com mais de uma mão-cheia de católicos, entre democratas e republicanos. De Martin O"Malley a Marco Rubio, de Chris Christie a Jeb Bush. Um sinal dos tempos? Talvez. E não é só na política que a América se apresenta cada vez mais católica. No Supremo Tribunal - cujas decisões moldam o que são os Estados Unidos - seis dos nove juízes são católicos. Uma sobrerrepresentação se pensarmos que os 78,2 milhões de católicos representam 25% do total da população. Um número que deve muito ao peso da comunidade hispânica na América - em 2003 esta ultrapassou os negros como maior minoria. É esta América que nem os escândalos de pedofilia na Igreja parecem ter impedido de se tornar mui católica que na quarta-feira dá as boas-vindas a Francisco, o primeiro Papa das Américas. Um argentino Jorge Bergoglio que esperou até ser Papa para a primeira visita aos EUA.
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